The Legend of Spyro: Brotherhood
by XxNexusWolfxX
Summary: <html><head></head>Spyro and Cynder come in contact with a dragon that was imprisoned by Malefor. He claims to have known Cynder when she was younger, and talks about a bond that he and Spyro share. Can they trust this dragon, or is he just looking to avenge Malefor.</html>
1. Chapter 1

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.**

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><p>A dragon was imprisoned within one of the many cellars that reside in Malefor's floating castle. He had chains attached to his four limbs, another one on his neck restraining him from moving around to much, and a final one that was restraining his tail from moving. The dragon had been staring out the window for quite some time now. He had seen Malefor fly out of the castle followed by two other dragons. He guessed that the purple dragon of legend, the one prophesized to bring the downfall of Malefor, had been the one to follow him up towards the sky. He saw the battle unfold. There were points through out the battle when he was sure that Malefor would win.<p>

He took his eyes off the dragons battling in the sky, to notice that the Destroyer had made its way back to the volcano. He knew that this was the beginning of the end for the world. He then saw the three dragons that had been fighting in the sky come down and head towards the center of the Earth. He would now have to wait patiently, until the dragons came out to know if good or evil had prevailed.

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><p>Meanwhile inside the center of the Earth, Spyro and Cynder had just barely beaten Malefor. Spyro heard Ignitus' voice tell him the words that he needed to hear. With those words he understood what he would have to do to save everyone.<p>

"I know what I need to do. Just get out of here Cynder." Spyro said not wanting to put Cynder's life in any risk.

"Spyro, no you don't have to do anything let's just go." She said fearing for his safety.

"Where Cynder? There'll be nothing left! The world is breaking apart. But I think I can stop it. I think I'm meant to." He said, trying to convince her and himself that he was meant to save the world from the very beginning.

"Then I'm with you," she said stepping closer to him. She knew no one should have to face this alone, and if it was the end for both of them; at least she would die with the one she loved.

Spyro just acknowledged the fact that Cynder wasn't going to leave his side. He closed his eyes trying to concentrate all the power he had left. Spyro released the concentrated energy in a single wave that went from the center of the earth through out its very atmosphere. Just as he released the energy he could have sworn Cynder had said something to him, but he couldn't quite catch it since he was to busy releasing the energy. The energy quickly started to reconnect any pieces that had broken of, due to the Destroyers actions. The whole world started to become whole once again thanks to him.

Back in the Earth's core Spyro had finished releasing all of his energy. He quickly took notice that he and Cynder only had a few moments, before they would be crushed to death due to the Earth becoming whole again.

"Come on Cynder we have to get out of here." Spyro said, as both dragons darted of towards the air. Spyro flew in the direction of a large opening in the ceiling; since the planet was slowly being pulled back together everything was closing in on the two dragons. Both Spyro and Cynder were avoiding rocks falling down and the Earth itself; as it was pulling itself back together. Spyro was using his earth element breath to create a solidified light green energy rock from his mouth he released it towards the sky, he did so to try and break the much larger rocks that were falling towards them. As soon as the falling rocks made contact with Spyro's energy rocks they were smashed into small pebbles.

He had found a way to deal with the falling debris, but the constant shifting of the Earth around them was a little bit harder to deal with. Spyro and Cynder could just barely avoid it. They were both constantly on alert moving side to side in order to avoid it. They managed to avoid the obstacles, and both dragons noticed a small hole. Both flew in the direction of it hoping that it was a way out. The two dragons flew into the hole and as they were going through it, they noticed a small glimmer of light at the other end. As they reached the exit they were greeted by a field of grass under them. They collapsed on the ground and fell asleep, because both exhausted from the whole ordeal.

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><p>The dragon, which was chained up alongside the castle's cold walls, saw the two dragons escape from the crack in the Earth. He now knew that Malefor had been defeated by the two dragons. He began to hear rumbling coming within the castle. Turning his head slightly around the room he noticed that the castle was moving again. He looked out the small window again and saw that the castle had slowly begun to move downwards. The dragon guessed that since Malefor had been defeated, his power was no longer present to suspend the castle in the air. With the absence of his power all the floating castles were slowly starting to fall down.<p>

The dragon felt that he was slowly starting to rise into the air, but was restrained by his chains from going to high up. He knew that the castle was rapidly falling towards the Earth, so he braced himself for the impact. The castle broke to pieces upon its collision with the Earth. The landscape which the castle had crashed in to had been completely leveled down. The castle was now in broken pieces, which were lying across the field. In the center of the field was a small pile of broken down walls lying rigidly against each other.

The walls suddenly began to move, and out of their emptiness came a single dragon: his scales being that of a light grey, his silver eyes staring into the sky, he began walking out of the walls that used to surround him, with chains dragging at his feet. The chains that had once held him down, imprisoning him within the castle, were now broken. He took a few seconds to remove the chains from his body. He began with the chains around his dark grey horns, and threw them on the ground. Then he moved onto the chains around his fore legs and hind legs. Breaking off the handcuffs that kept the chains attached to him. He then brought his tail in front of him, and took of the few chains around it. The only thing remaining was the chain wrapped tightly around his neck. He grabbed onto it with both his hands and tore it apart.

He continued walking, until he was out of the area that the castle had crashed into. He looked around surprised that the entire Earth had been pulled back together.

"Seems you lost after all Malefor," the dragon said. "You thought you were unstoppable, and when you found out that there was a small chance that the next purple dragon could be the end of you, it became an obsession for you to kill him. That was your mistake you spend too much trying to get rid of him and not focusing on getting stronger."

The dragon then opened his wings and flew up into the sky.

"Unlike you Malefor, I did not waste my time. After you imprisoned me in that damn castle for seven years, I had the time to get stronger, time to perfect my fighting and elemental skills. Which can now rival those of a purple dragon, and I know why you kept me alive for all those years. You wanted me to be your last resort, right? In case you lost to him; I would be the one to fulfill your dream of destroying this world. To bad for you that's not what I'm going to do. I will go ahead however and fight that dragon. But not because he killed you, simply because I want to find out which one of us is stronger."

With that the dragon flew off into the direction that he had seen Spyro and Cynder go, after they had defeated Malefor.

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><p>Spyro slowly began to open his eyes. He took a look around the area he was in. He noticed that he was in an open field, surrounded by grass, and everything was being overlooked by the high mountains around it.<p>

"We made it out." Spyro turned his head to the voice he had just heard, he came in direct contact with a pair of emerald eyes staring right back at him caringly. Spyro tried to speak to her, but no words came out of his mouth. He was to busy admiring the dragon in front of him; her vibrant black scales, her ivory horns, and magenta colored wings.

_Why am I feeling this way towards her? I've always considered her a friend, but lately it feels different when I'm around her. _The purple dragon questioned himself about his newly discovered feelings for her.

"Um, Spyro," Cynder said interrupting Spyro's state of thought, "I think we should start heading back to Warfang, to tell the others were okay."

"Huh, oh yea we should go do that," he said trying to put his thoughts behind him, and concentrate on what she was saying.

Cynder was looking at Spyro with a confused look trying to figure out why he was acting like this. _Maybe he did hear what I said just before he saved everyone_,she thought to herself, _but why wouldn't he mention it, unless he doesn't feel the same way._ It quickly dawned on her of this possibility. _I'll just have to wait until he shows it, I mean there's no proof he heard me say anything, so for right know I'll have to wait._

"Alright Cynder you ready?" Spyro asked, lifting himself up from the ground and readying himself to take off for flight. Cynder gave no response she only stood herself up from the small patch of dirt beneath her and took off flying.

"What's her problem?" He said before taking of towards the sky.

They had been flying silently for a few hours until Cynder asked, "How long do you thing it'll be until we get there?"

"It's not as far away as you think," Spyro pointed straight ahead of him, "You see its right there over the distance"

Cynder could barely see it. Spyro was right it was just over the horizon, but even though they could see it by no means did that mean it was close and Cynder knew this.

"Spyro," she called out his name.

"Yea," he responded.

"My wings are getting tired, do you thing that maybe we could walk for a little bit instead of flying?"

"Sure, we did go through a lot today." He said lowering himself onto the ground beneath their feet. "We can use this time to get our strength back, but we still gotta hurry it looks like it could start raining." He said, looking up towards the sky, which had changed from its usual blue texture to a now grayish tone.

"Come on lets go," he told Cynder, who quickly followed behind him.

The truth was that Cynder wasn't tired at all she could have kept on flying, but she wanted to walk the rest of the way there. So she could spend more time with Spyro, because she knew that as soon as they arrived in Warfang the guardians would be taking up most of his time. Besides that she also wanted to know if he had the same feelings that she had for him. So she figured that this would be as good of a time as any to reveal her feelings towards him. Even if it might ruin their relationship, she knew that one thing was for certain. That Spyro would never stop being her friend.

"Spyro," Cynder called out to the purple dragon.

"Yea, what's the matter," he responded. He turned his gaze towards her.

"It's just that I've been meaning to tell you something for quite sometime now." She was now staring directly into his amethyst eyes.

"Yea, Cynder what is it?"

"Well I've been meaning to tell you this for along time now, I don't know how long though. Probably ever since you saved me back when we were in convexity."

Cynder knew that the next words came out of her mouth; were finally going to show Spyro how she truly felt about him. She began to open her mouth, but found that no words were coming out. As much as she wanted him to know how she felt about him, she just couldn't tell him. She looked at the ground in embarrassment, after not being able to tell him how she felt about him. She couldn't face him anymore she was ashamed that she had come so far, but when the time came to tell him she just couldn't say it.

Spyro noticed Cynder looking sadly at the ground. He didn't know why she was sad all of sudden, but he never did like seeing her unhappy. So he began taking a couple of steps towards her, stopping inches form were she stood.

"Cynder," he called out her name.

She slowly raised her head from the ground, and came face to face with Spyro. Again she tried to speak, but was too nervous to say anything.

"It's alright Cynder. You can take your time." Spyro began moving even closer to Cynder, they were now inches apart from each other.

After hearing those words from Spyro, new confidence had risen from within Cynder.

"Spyro, what I've been wanting to tell you for quite sometime now is that I…" She began to hesitate again, trying to decide if this was the right thing to do. "I lo…"

Before she could finish her sentence the sound of lightning in the distance had cut her off and rain soon followed. She began feeling that this would not be the appropriate place to tell him how she feels.

"Go on Cynder finish what you were about to say." Spyro said not even caring that it was raining; he just wanted to find out what she had to say.

"Well what I've been meaning to tell you is that I'm thankful for all that you've done for me." She began walking in the direction that Warfang was in, leaving Spyro behind her.

"Your welcome," He said half heartedly, he had expected her to tell him something else. Nonetheless he began walking as well.

The storm had become much worse since they started walking. Huge gusts of wind had mixed in with the rain. Making it difficult for the two dragons to continue walking. They had both thought about flying, but it would be almost near to impossible to fly with the way the weather was. Cynder had begun to regret her decision of convincing Spyro that they should walk the rest of the way to Warfang. If it wasn't for her idea they would already be there, and would not have to deal with this.

"Come on just a little bit further." Spyro said, indicating to Cynder that they were almost there.

They continued making there way through the storm, but as they were walking a huge lightning bolt struck in between the two dragons. The force of the lightning's impact was great enough to knock Cynder a couple of feet forward. She stood back up, and after regaining her composure, she began looking for Spyro. He was nowhere in sight. Immediately Cynder began to fear the worse for him. She hurried over towards the area that the lightning bolt had struck.

"Spyro!" She began to call out his name hoping for some kind of response.

She waited for any kind of response; she thought she heard a noise. She began listening more carefully for the faint noise. She heard the noise again. The noise was faint but it sounded like someone was grunting, it was coming from over a small hill. Cynder began running towards the small hill; hoping that Spyro was alright.

After making it up the hill she found Spyro, and another dragon fighting at the bottom of the cliff. She quickly made her way down the hill. She noticed that the dragon that Spyro was fighting looked almost exactly like him. They were both the same size, height, and from where she was standing the dragon seemed to be about the same age as them. The differences between the two were that his scales. His were light grey instead of purple like Spyro's. His eyes were silver, not at all amethyst like Spyro's. Instead of having a yellow chest it was dark grey just like his horns and the tip of his tail. He also had the same spikes that Spyro had that followed from the top of the head to the tail, but his were light grey instead of yellow. Cynder began making her way towards them.

"Don't come any closer!" Spyro shouted at Cynder's direction, "It's too dangerous. Leave him to me."

Cynder decided to take his warning, and would only join the fight if Spyro needed her help.

"State your name stranger," Spyro said with anger in his voice.

"Rai," he responded back.

"Why are you here? Malefor is dead there's no reason to fight for him any more." Spyro spoke to the dragon in front of him.

"You actually thing I'm fighting for him." He said menacingly.

"What do you mean?" Spyro questioned.

"I don't follow Malefor; I personally couldn't stand the guy."

"Then why are you fighting me?"

"Because I choose to." he said, staring coldly at Spyro, who couldn't understand why he was after him.

"You killed Malefor and I wanted to do that. Why? You ask, simply because I wanted to test my power against his, but you beat me to it. So now I'm going to test them against you." He rushed towards Spyro turning around just before colliding with the purple dragon, and hit Spyro across the face with his tale. The impact was enough to send Spyro a few feet across the field.

"Come on you can do better then that, get up!" The dragon demanded.

Spyro began to stand up. As he was standing back up he looked over towards Cynder.

_Can't let her get hurt._ He thought to himself.

It became apparent to Spryo that this dragon was not going to back down; until he made sure the purple dragon was dead.

He took one last glance at Cynder, "I now know what that feeling was that I had for her earlier." He said to himself quietly. "I must have been an idiot not to realize it," he gave off a faint smile, "It was love."

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><p><strong>(AN): Please Read and Review. Any constructive criticism would be appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.**

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><p>"What's so funny?" Rai questioned Spyro, about the smile that had spread across his face.<p>

"Don't worry about it," Spyro responded.

That was all he had to say as he took to his fighting stance. He rushed towards the light grey dragon, who stood at the far end of the field. Spyro kept on rushing towards the dragon, until he was inches away from him. Once he was where he needed to be. Spyro leapt at the dragon, and went for a tackle. Just before he made contact; Rai managed to sidestep Spyro's tackle.

"To slow," he said; as he delivered a kick across Spyro's ribs. The force of the kick was strong enough to send Spyro up towards the sky.

It had taken Spyro a moment to realize that he was now up in the air. He opened his wings in order to hold himself in place, and stop any further ascension into the sky.

"I can't believe that his this strong." Spyro told himself, "His just about as strong as me, I have to end this quickly before he gets serious. I have a feeling his been playing around with me not showing his true power yet."

Spyro then saw the dragon fly up towards the sky; he knew the dragon was going to attempt a head on collision with him. Spyro realized that his only chance of withstanding it would be to either avoid or block the attack. Just as Rai was about to deliver a punch to Spyro's abdomen he managed to take hold of it.

"Whose to slow now?" said Spyro. He had received a boost of confidence from his stunt.

"Don't get to cocky Spyro." Rai said, as he pulled Spyro in towards him.

Spyro tried getting away from the dragon by letting go of his hand, but just as he let go Rai caught Spyro's hand with his free one. He then pulled Spyro in towards him, and got behind the purple dragon. Rai grabbed onto the back of his head, and launched Spyro and himself downward towards the Earth.

Both dragons picked up speed, Spyro tried moving around. He was attempting to get Rai off of him. But it was no use the dragon had each of Spyro's limbs positioned in a way that he would not be able to escape. Spyro could see the ground approaching; since he knew there was no way of avoiding it he braced himself. Rai on the other hand was not worried about it; he knew exactly what to do. Just as they passed the hundred foot mark he let go of Spyro, and quickly opened his wings to slow himself down. Spyro on the other hand hit the ground with full force, and on impact a large cloud of dirt surrounded the field.

Rai waited patiently in the air for the cloud of dirt to disappear. Little by little it slowly disappeared, and revealed a large crater in the ground. In the middle of the crater was a motionless purple figure. Rai made his way towards the crater; he came to a halt inches away from the purple dragon.

"To think someone as weak as you defeated Malefor, I guess he wasn't as strong as I thought." He said, disappointed in the fact that someone so weak could defeat Malefor.

"In any case you were not worth my time after all…" Rai was caught of by a sudden burst of fire coming in his direction. The fire enveloped his entire body, and at the end of that surging fire was Spyro. He continued using his fire breath until he was sure that the dragon was dead.

"Not as weak as you thought, huh?" Spyro said. He enjoyed his victory over the dragon. He brought himself to his feet, and opened his wings preparing to get out of the crater.

"Perhaps I did underestimate you Spyro," said a voice from within the fire. Spyro froze and turned his head in the direction of the flames. That he was sure had finished of his opponent. From within the flames Rai opened up his wings, and extinguished the flames around him. He had survived the attack by using his own wings as a shield against the fire.

"That's right as a purple dragon you can use fire, earth, ice, and electricity element based attacks. How could I forget?" Rai said sarcastically. He flew out of the crater, and onto the grassy field.

"Stick around and I'll show you all of them."

"Well come on lets see what you got." He said overlooking the crater.

Spyro flew up towards the sky and out of the crater. He then sent an energized rock towards Rai, who easily avoided it by jumping out of the way.

"Come on is that really all you got, lets see some ice attacks." He said mocking Spyro.

Spyro spun himself around up in the air, and created a blizzard around the field. Rai began to feel ice cover his body, but did nothing to get the ice off of him. Spyro started going faster increasing the freezing rate of the blizzard. He came to a stop after the whole field was covered in ice. He then landed back on the ground, and looked at the dragon in the center. He was completely frozen in ice. Spyro thought that he had won once again, but this again proved false. Because the ice on the dragon began to crack, and little by little it fell off the dragon.

Spyro then opened his mouth, and launched a surge of electricity towards Rai. Who just stood there and took the electricity head on.

"That element doesn't work on me." He told Spyro, who was just amazed that he took the attack head on.

"So I guess your element is electricity."

"No it's a stronger version of that element that only I can use."

"What do you mean by that?" Asked Spyro, confused over what the dragon had said.

"Instead of explaining it to you let me show you." He began to open his mouth, and a light blue attack launched out of it. The attack was very similar in shape to Spyro's electrical attack, but with one difference it was much faster. Spyro did not even notice the attack until it had struck the ground right in front of him.

"Don't worry that was just a demonstration I missed on purpose so you could see the difference in our attacks. My element is lightning, and don't even compare it to that electric attack you used earlier. Because even though they are about the same shape the color of my attack is light blue while yours is yellow. Also mine is considerably faster. To the point that you couldn't even see my attack until it landed. As for its power well you saw how it blew away the ground."

"Tell me something before we continue this battle." Spyro asked. He tried to regain his composure after seeing an attack that powerful.

"Go ahead ask away."

"I know you've felt something as well during this fight, but I quite can't put my finger on it. It feels as if I've known you before today. And the fact that we look almost completely alike except for our color can't be a coincidence either. Tell me Rai who exactly are you?"

"Well if you must know," responded Rai, "I'm your older brother."

This came as a shock to not only Spyro, but to Cynder who had been listening down on the ground.

"You and I are fertinal twins; we were separated at birth when Malefor ordered his servants to raid the temple. I was taken by his servants and imprisoned within his castle. He thought I was too dangerous to become one of his servants and he was right. The reason he didn't kill me was because he thought he could control me and use me against you. He told me I was your brother and next to him I had the highest probability of killing you. I really could care less who I was supposed to kill. Hell I would have gone along with it willingly, but they tried using some sort of mind control on me because I was to rebellious. It failed my will was too great to be taken control of, so since they couldn't use me they imprisoned me."

"Lair there's no way you're my brother." Spyro said, trying to deny what he had been told.

"You can believe whatever you wanna believe, because by the end of today you will be dead."

"I refuse!"

Spyro then flew up high into the sky, and readied himself for his next attack.

"I hate using this element. Its attack strength is unbelievable, but at the cost of changing by personality."

He opened his mouth and out flew a purple beam that went straight towards the ground. The attack was going straight towards Rai, who gazed in amazement at the attack.

"Convexity," was all that escaped his mouth before being enveloped in it.

"Is…it…over…?" Asked Spyro, panting in between breaths exhausted from using convexity. He had a sudden urge to use the attack again.

"Its beginning to happen I'm starting to lose it. I can feel the dark influence of convexity trying to take control of me. I can only use it three times in a day before I become lost to my darker self." Spyro said, as he tried to resist the influences of convexity.

Spyro looked back towards the ground, and noticed that a light purple beam was approaching him. He got out of the way in time, and turned his head towards the source. He did not want to believe it, but knew that there was no other explanation. He was not the only one capable of using convexity in the battle.

Back on the ground was a severely wounded Rai, his body bruised from the attack he had just endured. He barely managed to keep himself up.

"That attack really did a number on me. You know I just thought I'd return the favor by sending my own convexity beam in your direction. It's difficult isn't it controlling yourself after using such and attack. I can tell that right know your fighting the corrupting nature of convexity, that's the price paid for using such a powerful element."

"You said it yourself convexity corrupts the user each time the element is used, so how come your not fighting for control right know, unless your already corrupt?" Spyro stated, still in desperate struggle to hold back the corrupting nature of convexity.

"Nope the reason is quite simple really, I'm immune to corruption. I act as I please and nothing will ever be able to change that." Rai said, as he looked right at Spyro with a smile across his face. He knew full well he had the advantage when it came to convexity.

Spyro was stunned that someone could use convexity freely without having to deal with its corrupting nature.

"Well this battle has gone on long enough don't you think?" Rai released another convexity beam straight towards Spyro.

_Not again, I was hoping for a bit more time until he made his move. My body can't move anymore, I was hoping I wouldn't need to use this again. But in order to survive and more importantly beat my opponent I have to use it again. _Spyro thought to himself, before he released another steady stream of convexity.

The two beams of convexity that were released by the two dragons met up in the sky. The two beams struggled against each other; both tried to push the other one back. But their efforts were pointless as both beams seemed to be generating the exact same power; they were stuck in a stalemate. Cynder looked on desperately hoping that Spyro would be able to push back the grey dragon's beam.

Spyro continued giving it everything he had. He would not let this dragon beat him. Spyro continued to use up all his energy in an attempt to completely overwhelm the convexity beam that pushed against his. Continuous usage of the attack was starting to take its toll on Spyro. He was almost out of energy, his wings were starting to hurt from flying, and the scales on the left side of his body slowly became black.

_I have to end this now, I've wasted too much energy and as a result my transformation is beginning much sooner then I thought._

Spyro began to give the last ounce of energy he had into his convexity beam, but it only ended up moving a couple of feet, before returning back to its original position. The sudden realization that his final attempt had failed greatly discouraged the purple dragon. Now the only thing he could do was match Rai's attack with his, and hope that he was having just as much trouble trying to push back the attack as he was.

As much as Spyro hoped that this was indeed the case it quickly became apparent that it was not. Because his convexity beam was slowly being pushed back by Rai's moving inch by inch closer to him. Spyro began thinking that this was the end, and that nothing he did would be able to stop his inevitable death. He closed his eyes not wanting to know when the fierce energy would hit him and end his life.

"You can do it Spyro!"

Upon hearing this voice Spyro snapped his eyes wide open, and looked towards the direction that the voice had come from. His eyes came into contact with Cynder, who was staring at him from the ground. Spyro could tell from the look in her eyes. That even though he had given up on himself; she still had hope in him.

_She never left, she stayed despite the danger. I can't die not now I have to survive this, but in order to do that I have to give myself to convexity. If it's to make sure she makes it out alive I'll do it, I just hope she can bring me back from it like last time. _

Spyro then turned his attention back on the beam that was approaching him. He had made his choice and that was to make sure that Cynder would make it out of this alright. He started drawing upon the power of convexity. He slowly received its power. The scales on Spyro's body were almost all completely black now. The only part that still remained purple was the right side of his face.

_That should be enough I have to do this before I lose my sanity._

Spyro took the newfound energy, and used it to power up his old convexity beam. The energy was enough to make the beam double in size. It made Rai's stop from advancing, and more importantly began to push it back. It quickly turned the tide in Spyro's favor, who was still putting all the energy he had into it.

_Where did he suddenly get this burst of energy from? _Rai thought to himself, upon seeing that Spyro's attack was pushing his back and coming closer. _This isn't good. At this rate his attack will completely blow mine away. _

Spyro's beam had pushed its opposing beam almost all the way back. By now it was inches away from Rai.

_I won't die like this not now, I know I'm better then this._ "I won't let you beat me Spyro!"

Rai started transferring more of his energy into the attack, managing to halt Spyro's attack once more. But this time though it was different, unlike before it completely blew Spyro's attack back at him. His convexity beam completely pushed against Spyro's, it managed to travel all the way up towards the sky once more.

Spyro saw the attacking coming at him again.

_No that's impossible; I can't even produce that much energy output. _

Spyro stared in disbelief as he saw his own attack fail in the struggle while Rai's prevailed. The beam pushed back his attack, and made its way to Spyro. It completely blew not only it way away but the purple dragon as well. The beam continued on past Spyro and further into the sky. It diminished from the sky only after its energy had run out, and in its disappearance a small purple figure could be seen in the sky.

Spyro's body was severely burned from being hit with the convexity beam. He took one last look at Cynder before falling towards the ground. Cynder looked on in horror as she saw the one she loved falling towards the ground head first.

Rai on the other hand just looked on with a sense of gratification on his face; as he watched the purple dragon fall down towards the earth with the rain. He knew that if the energy from both their attacks was not enough to kill the dragon the drop would do it.

Spyro's body rapidly began to fall towards the ground. Cynder noticed this and decided to act. With the wind now calmed down she flew towards the position she estimated Spyro would soon enough land in. Spyro's body was now only a few feet above the ground. It kept on going until just before it made contact with the ground. Cynder caught him and broke his fall.

"What was that?" Rai asked himself. He had noticed that something had broken the purple dragon's fall, but could not tell what it was.

"Well lets just go see what it was then." He said, as he walked towards the direction that Spyro had landed.

Cynder gently landed on the ground, with the one she loves in between her arms. They both laid there on the wet grass, Cynder looked down towards Spyro. She saw how badly wounded he was from the battle. Tears started running down her face, but they were quickly watched away from the bits of rain drops hitting her face. Spyro's eyelids slowly began to open revealing his purple eyes.

"Hey Cynder," Spyro said softly, still aching all over from the last attack.

"Your alive," Cynder said happily, "I thought I had lost you for sure Spyro." She rubbed her face gently against his.

"Let's get out of here Spyro we can still run away from him." She told him, but the look in his eyes told her that he was in no condition to move.

"I'm sorry Cynder I can't, my body it's too badly injured. If you hadn't broken my fall I probably would be dead right now."

"Then I'll stay by your side we can face him together." She said, trying to convince him that she could protect him.

"No his to powerful. Just get out of here I'll try to hold him of for as long as I can, so you can make it back to Warfang and tell the guardians."

"I'm not going anywhere Spyro I'm staying right by your side to the very end."

"Then I guess if you won't go no matter what I say. Then I guess this is as good of a time as any to tell you."

"Tell me what?" She asked.

"That I…," Spyro couldn't believe he was about to tell her this especially on his deathbed, "Cynder I lo…"

"Well what do we have here? Still alive I see you truly are a stubborn dragon you know that?" Rai said, interrupting Spyro from revealing his feelings. "Oh, and I see you have a friend with you now, who might you be." He said, directing his attention towards Cynder.

"I'm his partner." She responded bitterly towards him.

"Partner? Then you must be the other dragon who fought against Malefor huh? Good I can kill both of you right now then." He rushed towards Cynder.

"Get out of here you'll just end up like me."

"What makes you think I'm weaker then you." She said, as she took to her fighting position, "We both beat Malefor, so we should be equal in strength right?"

_Yea but I just don't want to see you get hurt, _he thought to himself.

She prepared herself, getting ready to avoid any attack that would come from the dragon. She took notice that while he was coming towards her, his mouth began to produce a small bluish light. Spyro took notice of this, and quickly knew what attack he was going to do next.

"Cynder run!" Spyro said, trying to warn her about the attack before he became unconscious from the lack of energy.

Rai suddenly stopped right in his tracks, and stopped his lightning element attack from releasing.

"What did he just say?" Rai had a look of shock on his face, "What's your name?"

"My name is Cynder," she answered him.

" Cy…Cynder?" Rai stuttered as he said her name. "I can't believe it, it's me Rai," he said.

Cynder just looked at him with a confused look on her face.

"Come on remember please."

"I'm sorry I don't know who you are. I only know that you tried to kill Spyro."

"Please remember me I thought I had lost you on that night. For seven years I went thinking that he had killed you. And now I see you here alive." He pleaded towards her to remember who he was.

"Even if I did know who you were, it doesn't change the fact that you tried killing Spyro."

"I only did it because he had beaten Malefor, and I wanted to do that so I could redeem myself for being too weak to protect you all those years ago." He said, looking at the ground.

Cynder just stood there taking in everything he told her.

"Come on please remember Cynder we used to be friends all those years ago, please. It was just the two of us looking out for each other." He said, with desperation in his voice.

She began to wonder if what he was saying was true, and if it was why could she not remember him?

"It's me Cynder your old friend." He said, taking a step forward, but just as he did a sudden numbness struck his body, he was paralyzed.

"What is this? An electrical element based attack, but Spyro's unconscious. It doesn't matter I should still be able to move." He slowly started moving his body, but just to move one joint was a tremendous struggle.

"What the? This is a much more advanced electrical attack. It's targeting my nervous system instead of the muscles like other electrical element paralyzing attacks do. Who ever did this is a master of this element." He said, as he struggled to move his left hind leg. "The only reason I can still move, is because being a lightning element user helped absorb some of the attack. If I had been a normal electric element type I would have been paralyzed completely." He quietly said to himself.

"It seems your attack wasn't enough to incapacitate him dear friend." Said a mysterious voice.

Rai tried turning his head in the direction that the voice had come from; even though it was still extremely difficult for him to do so. Before he could get it turned all the way around, he felt coldness around the base of his tail. He did not need to look at it to know that it was frozen; the ice was much harder and colder then Spyro's. It was quickly spreading up his tail; it made its way all the way towards his upper body. As if that was not enough he then felt his legs get heavier. Out of the corner of his right eye he saw that earth covered both his hind legs, and quickly began to spread up his body.

"Damn now there's an ice master and an earth master. I can't get out of this." Rai said, accepting that there was no way out of his predicament.

Instead of trying to discover who his attackers were. He decided to use what little time he had left to try and make Cynder remember who he was. He forced his head to turn towards her. The ice had now traveled up to his neck and was quickly making its way towards his head. He was covered in earth up to his chest, and it was following the path the ice had taken. He stared into her emerald eyes, as she stared back into his silver eyes.

"Please Cynder just remember that we used to be best friends." He managed to let out those words before the ice finished freezing his whole body. Then the earth followed finishing its job. His body was now covered in earth, and completely frozen underneath it.

Cynder just stared at the still dragon in front of her.

"I wish I could, and somehow I do feel like I've known you my whole life." She said her last words to the dragon. She took one last glance at the dragon in front of her, before cuddling up next to Spyro.

**(A/N): Please read and review.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.**

**(A/N): Sorry for the long update. I had finals so most of my time was focused on studying for them. Anyways here is chapter 3 hope you enjoy.  
><strong>

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><p>Spyro tossed and turned in the sheets of his bed. He was nervous about not knowing where he was at the moment.<p>

"Spyro!"

He heard someone call out his name.

"Spyro!"

He opened his eyes and took a look around; he found that he was in large room. The ceiling and floor were covered in white tiles, and a small window was besides his bed.

"You're finally awake!"

It was all he heard before a shadowy figure came over towards him, and started hugging him.

"I was so worried Spyro, I thought you would never come out of that coma." Cynder said, as she rubbed her head against his chest.

Spyro began to blush; he had never been this close to her. Sure it felt good having her close to him, but at the moment he wanted to find out what had happened.

"Um, Cynder?" The purple dragon said, trying to get her attention. He got what he asked for when she turned her head upwards to look at him.

She noticed that Spyro was a bit uncomfortable, so she decided to get off of him. She then took a seat next to his bed.

"Um sorry," she said turning her head away from him. Her cheeks now had a slight shade of red.

"It's alright," Spyro said, felling guilty for the whole incident that had just happened.

There was an awkward silence in the room as both dragons tried to not look at each other, they were both a bit nervous. The silence was broken by the sound of large footsteps approaching the room. Spyro turned his head towards the sound, and found three large dragons approaching: one on the left had yellow scales, while the one on the right had green scales, and the one in the middle had light blue scales.

"Volteer, Cyril, and Terrador!" Spyro said, excited that the three dragons had survived the war.

"Well hello young dragon," Cyril said.

"We are quite delighted to have the two of you back." added Volteer.

"What do you mean where am I?" Spyro questioned, the last thing he remembered was lying severely wounded on the grass trying to protect Cynder.

"You're in Warfang," Terrador said, answering the purple dragon's question.

"But how? The last thing I remember was…" Spyro then started having a flash back of his fight against Rai.

"Where is he?" Spyro shouted, he demanded to know where the dragon that had caused him so much pain was.

"By he would you mean that light grey dragon that we found in the field three days ago." Cyril said, trying to calm Spyro down.

"Three days?"

"Yes Spyro, you were unconscious for three days," Cynder added.

"Indeed for three whole days. Cynder here told us everything that had happened after our group was separated from your group. We are truly sorry for your lost Spyro. Ignitus was like a brother to us, but to you he was more like a father." Terrador said, he then noticed that Spyro had his head down.

He quickly got the message that being reminded of Ignitus had greatly depressed the purple dragon.

"But you know," Terrador said, trying to cheer up Spyro, "Cynder stayed by your side every day while you recovered; not living your side even once."

Spyro turned his head towards Cynder, "Thank you," he told her, feeling grateful that she had stayed besides him through everything.

"So if I've been here recovering, who took care of that dragon?"

"We did," Volteer explained to Spyro, "the three of us caught him of guard, it looked as if he was to busy talking to Cynder about something. So the three of us used the opportunity to immobilize him with our attacks, we then took the three of you back here. We brought you and Cynder here to get healed, and imprisoned the grey dragon within Warfang."

"We plan on executing him for attempting to murder you two," Terrador added.

"Don't!" Spyro said, trying to convince them not to kill Rai.

"I agree with Spyro," Cynder commented, not wanting him dead, because she still wanted to know what the feelings were she had, when he was trying to make her remember him.

"We had no idea you two cared about this dragon so much," Cyril said, confused how these two dragons could care about him, after he tried to end their lives.

"Take me to him," Spyro commanded.

"But why do you feel so strongly about someone who just tried to kill you, young dragon?"

Spyro answered Cyril, "Because he's my older twin brother, he grew up all alone without anyone to comfort him. He was imprisoned by Malefor for several years; it's not his fault he turned out like this."

This came as a shock to the three old dragons; they had no idea that Spyro had a sibling much less a twin brother.

"Alright then young dragon, if you truly want to see him then follow us." Cyril unsurely said, not thinking that it was such a good idea. He believed that the dragon was quite dangerous, and should be taken care of as soon as possible.

Cyril turned around and walked out of the entrance that led to the room Spyro was in. He was followed by the other two guardians. Spyro slowly began to rise from his bed. Surprisingly he felt no pain as he made contact with the hard floor. He was expecting a great deal of pain, but his body was perfectly fine, it had no soreness at all.

"Wow I guess those crystals really do the trick." He said, impressed that he had been completely heeled by their power.

"Yea as soon as we arrived they started giving you large amounts of them; the first day they kept on giving you a steady stream of them. By the second day they were only giving you them about once an hour. And on the third day you were only treated once." Cynder explained to him how he had been treated.

"Did they give you any?" He asked concerned for her safety.

"Yea, but only a small amount," she replied to him. "Since I wasn't as injured as you, I didn't need as much. I then insisted that they should treat Rai as well. At first they were reluctant, but I then convinced them that if he was not treated he might die from his injuries. Not wanting him to die before they got the chance to question him about Malefor's activities, they decided to help him."

"Alright lets go it's time we pay him a visit." He said, leaving in the same direction that the guardians had gone, Cynder closely followed behind him.

They managed to catch up to the guardians, who were just about to start descending down the staircase that led to the dungeon below Warfang. As they walked down the staircase the once glistening marble walls turned into discolored walls with faded colors. The staircase itself had become just plain wood opposed to the tiled form it had at the beginning.

"How old is this place?" Cynder asked, she took notice that the lower they went the more it seemed like everything around her was aging.

"It's as old as the city is," Volteer responded, "When the city was built it was decided by the ancestors that a place was needed where criminals could be kept. So they decided upon a dungeon one that would be built underneath the city. This way it would be much easier to keep track on the criminals, and it was also a way to separate the criminals from the regular population."

They continued going down the staircase. It only took them a couple of more steps until they stepped onto leveled floor once again.

"This way, he is all the way at the end of the hallway" Cyril said, leading the group down the dark gloomy hall.

The group followed, Spyro was anxiously waiting to meet his brother once again. As they made their way down the hall, Spyro took notice of the cells that they were passing. Most of the cells looked like they had not been used in a while, and had been completely cleaned out.

Others though, the ones that had been used recently had all sorts of distinct attributes that the other cells did not. One of these was that the smell coming from them was that of putrid fletch. Spyro thought that this was fitting, because as they passed one cell in it the skeleton of a dragon could be seen chained up on the wall. He guessed that these cells must have been used during the war against Malefor.

After getting sidetracked by the cells in the dungeon, Spyro turned his attention back on arriving at his brother's cell.

"Well here we are," Cyril said. He had stopped in front of the cage that held the dragon that Spyro and Cynder wanted to meet once again.

Upon making their way over to the cell, both dragons stopped in their tracks. They saw Rai behind the bars of the cage. It was evident that he had been waiting for them to visit him.

"Why isn't he restrained?" Asked Spyro, he had noticed that the dragon did not have any chains around him; Spyro knew he was too dangerous to be left like this.

"We saw no need. As soon as we brought him here he just sat up against the wall; not even saying a word to us. We saw no reason to chain him up; it was as if he had no problem being locked up. So we decided to just lock him in here; even at the possibility of him breaking out." Terrador said, explaining why the light grey dragon was unrestrained to Spyro.

Rai then at the moment perked his head up from the wall which it had been leaning up against. Turning it towards his visitors, he immediately came in contact with the guardians. He kept on looking around until he averted his sight a bit lower. He then saw that Spyro and Cynder were with them as well.

"What are you two doing here?"

"I came here to ask you some questions brother." Spyro responded, trying to sound as confident as he could.

"Brother? Heh, I do believe this is the first time that you've referred to me as your sibling." Rai said, still sitting down with his back against the cold walls of the dungeon.

"So you weren't lying when you told me we were brothers?" Spyro asked, pressed up against the bars that separated him from his brother.

"Now why would I do that?" He said, with his eyes fixed on the purple dragon looking at him menacingly.

Rai continued, "It's true that I tried to kill you, but that was only because I wanted to see which one of us was stronger. It's true I might be a bit power hungry, dark, and even a bit evil." He raised his arm and brought his paw over in front of his face and continued, "But that's just who I am, and if you came here to change me you're just wasting your time." As he finished, he slowly made a fist with the paw he had brought to his face. He then slowly set it back down on the floor.

"You might indeed have all those qualities you speak of, but there's one you forgot and that's loneliness."

Rai's facial expression suddenly fell, after hearing that from Spyro. He knew those words he spoke were true. He in fact was lonely, but not only that he felt useless as well; for not being able to protect her. He took one quick glance at Cynder and then brought his gaze back to Spyro.

"You don't have to be alone anymore Rai, I can be your friend," Spyro said, as he moved his arm in between the bars and stretched it out across the cell. "I can be more then a friend to you, I can be a brother. Rai you won't have to be alone anymore you can come live with us."

Rai stared at the dragon in front of him: he had his paw stretched out across the cell, he was smiling at him, and the words he had said comforted him. He sat up and walked towards Spyro; he made his way over towards his open paw. He brought his paw towards Spyro's, but instead of shaking paws with him as everyone thought he was about to do. He took hand of Spyro's wrist.

"Alright I'll come live with you, but don't expect me to act friendly towards you and your friends here. It will take me some time until I am sure I can trust them. And don't expect me to be open about my feelings as well." Rai said, he let them know that he was still going to act as he normally would.

He let go of Spyro's wrist. Spyro was more then happy to have his paw back; he retracted it back from the cage. He was glad that his brother decided to join him, but now that he was finished convincing his brother to join him. He now had a few questions for the guardians.

"Why didn't you tell me I had a brother?" Spyro said, questioning the guardians.

"Well we didn't know Spyro. If we had we would have told you." Volteer said, trying to calm down Spyro who was clearly upset over the matter.

"Lies," Rai said, "Then explain to him why Malefor knew I was his sibling, but you three who were in charge of guarding the eggs, had no idea he had a brother?"

"Yea why is that?" Spyro also questioned, he now wondered if everything that the guardians had told him about his past were lies.

"Alright we will tell you exactly what happened, but you must understand young dragon that we did this for the well being of the word," Cyril began to explain to Spyro. "On that night Gaul did raid the temple looking for your egg that much is true. But it wasn't just for your egg, Spyro. They came to steal as many dragon eggs as they could."

"But why would they want to steal dragon eggs?" Spyro asked, trying to figure out what use they could have in collecting dragon eggs.

"You see Malefor knew that we would prepare the new generation of dragons for the war. So he figured that if he stole them from us, he could prepare an army of dragons to fight against us. We quickly decided on a plan that involved separating the dragon eggs. The guardians would defend the temple while, the other adult dragons scattered the eggs across the land. Well the plan failed the four of us could not fend of Gaul's army. They quickly raided the temple and took all the dragon eggs that remained within it."

"So what happened to the dragons that were born from those eggs?"

"Well you see Spyro," Cyril continued explaining. "We believe that the ones born from the eggs that were taken into hiding; must have formed their own little communities. They might not know that the war has ended, and might still be in hiding. As for the ones that were taken by Gaul, well you can see for yourself what happened to them." Cyril glared at Rai, who was growling at him.

"What do you mean Cyril?" Spyro asked, he wondered what the ice dragon meant by his comment.

"He means that they were experimented on." Rai spoke, "I say they, because I was never experimented on. He didn't want to risk loosing me, but I heard rumors of those that were. He wanted dragons that would have elemental powers that branched off of the original elements, or that mutated from them."

"What do you mean?" Cyril now asked.

"He would simply experiment on their powers trying to change their element. Most of them were failures; actually the probability of surviving after being experimented on was less then five percent. He didn't experiment on all the dragons though. If you were already classified as dangerous, they would simply lock you up. That's what happened to me, he was always frightened that one of us would turn out stronger then him."

"Can I ask just one more thing Rai?" Spyro questioned once more.

"Go ahead I have plenty of time." He said, before taking a seat on the floor once more. He leaned his head up against the bars of the cage letting it rest, and brought his tail down on his lap.

"Did you know Cynder back then?"

The question caught the dragon by surprise; he did in fact know her all those years ago.

"Yea I did," he turned his head towards her and then back to Spyro.

"Did they do anything to her?"

"It's hard to say, I mean the only thing I can think of is that she was forced into becoming his servant."

"But she has abnormal elemental powers," Volteer added.

"What do you mean?" Rai questioned, wondering what they meant by abnormal.

"All of her elements are dark elements. She has four of them shadow, wind, fear, and poison." Terrador said, responding to his question.

_So that's what you wanted her for back then_, Rai thought to himself.

"Well Rai what does that mean?" Cynder questioned, looking right at the light grey dragon.

Hearing her voice once more broke his train of thought, and he was brought back into reality. He turned his head and stared back at her.

"What it means is that he probably experimented on you. He probably tried to see if a dragon's element could be turned into another. In your case it was to turn it into a dark element, but he didn't just stop there. The reason why you probably have four just like Spyro must be because; he saw a great deal of potential in you. After you survived the first one he must have kept on giving you more and more." Rai finished his explanation.

"So I was nothing, but a pawn for him to use." Cynder said sadly.

"No you weren't he was just a monster who didn't care about anyone but himself. It wasn't your fault Cynder, it was mine." Rai said, with a bit of sorrow in his voice.

"What do you mean by that Rai?" Cynder asked, wondering now why the dragon in front of her, whom she's always seen as strong was now looking sadly at her.

"We were only six back then, and he already wanted to start experimenting on us. I told him to just take me, but no he said he wanted both of us. We were each others only friend back then, I couldn't let him take you from me. I was too weak to protect you Cynder, when he came to take us I put up a fight. He was to strong for me to take on and I was so weak. He quickly defeated me and took only you. He said I wasn't worth his time and just ordered me to be locked away. For years I had thought you were dead Cynder, I blamed myself for being too weak. After that day, I vowed I would get stronger. I would never let someone I cared about die ever again."

Cynder now had tears in her eyes, "I remember everything now Rai, how could I forget about you."

"You do?" Rai questioned.

"Yes, I was so worried about you back then as well, thank you for fighting for me." She said, as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"No problem," he said, holding back any tears from forming.

"There you see his not all that bad can you guys let him out now?" Spyro asked, wanting his brother out of the cell he was in.

"We will let him out if he gives us one last bit of information about Malefor." Cyril said.

"What do you want to know?" Rai responded, getting annoyed now by all the questions he was receiving.

"We are well aware that Malefor was looking for the dragons that were in hiding during the war. Did he find any of them?"

"Yes as a matter of fact he did, but he didn't bring them back to his castle. He assigned one of his soldiers to enslave everyone in that area regardless if they were or weren't dragons. He then was ordered to build a city there under Malefor's honor. That's all I know about that situation." Rai said, finished with his explanation on the matter.

"Would you have any idea of which soldier was given that order?" Terrador asked, wanting to know more about the circumstance.

"I believe his name was Daxaur. I believe he was an ape, and Gaul's apprentice."

"Gaul had an apprentice?" Spyro questioned.

Rai turned his head towards Spyro, "Yes Gaul thought him everything he knows, and as soon as he finished his training he was given that order."

"But I thought all the apes had been punished for their failure." Cyril added.

"Those were only the ones under Gaul's command. Malefor left all the ones under Daxaur's command untouched." Rai responded.

"Would you know where the location of the city might be?" Volteer asked, wanting to know its location.

"Yea, but I'll only tell you if you let me out of here." Rai said, as he ran his talons across the bars of the cell.

"Let him out." Said Cyril, not liking the idea, but if it meant finding the location of other dragons it was worth it.

Terrador went up to the side of the cage, and spit a small form of energized rock into his hand. He then put the small rock into the lock. The lock turned into solid rock, before it unlocked. The door to the cell slowly opened. Rai stood up from the floor he was sitting on. On all four limbs he walked out from the cell he was imprisoned in.

"Rai I'm so sorry I forgot about you," Cynder said. Running up to him and rubbing her head against his.

"It's alright as long as your alive that's all that matters to me Cynder." He said, as he rubbed his head against her as well.

Cynder then stepped away from Rai, and Spyro came forth.

"Thanks for believing in me Spyro," Rai said. Feeling a bit uncomfortable; about thanking someone who he had just tried to kill a couple of days ago.

"No problem big brother," Spyro said, he felt happy that he had an older brother. Rai on the other hand had a look on him that said it was going to take a long time for him to get used to being called big brother.

"So are you going to tell us where it is?" Cyril asked, getting impatient.

"The city is a bit far from here, I suggest you send a group to investigate first before going all out." Rai suggested.

"You are right, why don't you, Spyro, and Cynder go investigate. If you three find anything report back here so we can come up with a plan. You three shall live immediately." Cyril said, he walked out of the dungeon, followed by Terrador and Volteer.

"Let's get going I guess." Spyro said, as he walked towards the exit of the dungeon followed by Rai and Cynder.

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><p>After managing to get out of the dungeon; the three dragons found there way to Warfang's entrance. There they met up with the guardians, who were waiting for them.<p>

"Okay you guys know what to do. You are only ordered to investigate what's going on. Don't confront the enemy, if you do the mission will be compromised got it." Cyril said, directing that last sentence at Rai.

"Alright, open the gates!" Cyril ordered the moles to do so.

The gates opened revealing the world outside of the city. It was full of large green landscapes and high mountains. The three dragons stepped out of the city and continued onward. The gates behind them closed, sealing the city from them. They continued onwards towards their destination, their journey was about to begin.

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><p><strong>(AN): Please read and review.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
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><p>"Alright let's get going." Spyro announced, that they were about to set off.<p>

Cynder nodded at Spyro's comment, while Rai stood on the ground getting ready to fly off.

"Since I know where the city is located, I should be the one to lead." He said, opening his wings and taking flight. Leaving both Spyro and Cynder on the ground; watching him fly off.

"His got a point you know, Spyro." Cynder said.

"Yea I know, but the guardians put me in charge of this mission. I guess as long as we get some information it doesn't matter who leads." Spyro replied.

He then took off towards Rai, trying to catch up to him. Spyro was followed by Cynder, who was right behind him.

"So where is this city?" Spyro asked, wondering where it could be.

"It's towards east of Warfang, if I remember correctly." Rai responded, looking straight on ahead.

"Is there anything about the city that distinguishes it from others?" Spyro questioned, wanting to know more about the city.

"The only thing remotely distinguishing is that it's surrounded by mountains. They built the city surrounded like that, so it would be difficult for anyone not from the city to locate it." Rai said, describing where the city was located to Spyro.

"Malefor really must've wanted to keep it a secret from the guardians." Cynder added, flying a bit faster to keep up with the two dragons in front of her.

The group continued flying towards their destination. It almost seemed as if they had been flying for hours. The sun was just beginning to rise when they departed, but now it was in the middle of the sky. Warfang was now way behind them it could no longer be seen over the horizon. They had flown straight towards the east, and still were not at their destination. The three dragons had gotten tired from the continuous flying.

"Hey Rai, can we take a break from flying for a while?" Spyro asked, he was exhausted from all the flying they had been doing.

"Alright then let's look for a place to rest." He said, slowing down until he was at a complete stop.

Spyro and Cynder caught up to him and they too slowed down until they were at a complete stop as well. The three dragons started turning their heads around looking for a place to rest.

"How about there?" Cynder said, she was pointing to a small city in the woods.

"I guess that would have to do." Spyro said, heading of towards it followed by Cynder and Rai.

The three dragons descended towards the small city hidden in the woods. As they got closer to the ground they spread their wings open, so that they could make contact with the ground softly. The three of them gently landed in the woods, and slowly began to walk towards the city.

The three of them walked together with Spyro in the middle, Cynder to the right of him, and Rai to his left. As they entered the city they noticed that most of the population was that of Hunter's race. The buildings that they walked past by seemed old, and had cracks on the side of the walls. It seemed as if they were on the verge of collapsing. They continued walking until Spyro saw a building that looked as if it served food.

"Come on." he led Cynder and Rai to the building he had his eye on.

The three dragons entered together and walked, until they found seats for the three of them. They walked towards one table that was placed at the far side of the room. They pulled out small stools that were underneath the table that they had arrived at. They each took a seat and waited for someone to come and serve them. A few minutes had passed by, when a female cheetah arrived at their table.

"So what would you three be having today?" She asked the group.

"Um, I think we would be fine with just sheep." Spyro said, looking around at his companions.

He received a cheerful nod from Cynder. He could not tell if Rai agreed. Because he was not starring back at him, he was just starring at the table. Spyro guessed that he must have been spacing out, or that he just really did not care what he ate; as long as he ate something. He then looked back at the female cheetah in front of him.

"Alright, so I guess just bring us three sheep," he said.

The female cheetah wrote down Spyro's order and was about to leave, until she realized who she had been serving.

"You're the legendary purple dragon aren't you?" She asked excitedly, she was overjoyed that she was speaking with the purple dragon that had saved the world. She began jumping excitedly up and down. She threw her arms around him and began to cuddle him. She fondled his horns and his face with her paws. Spyro began to blush from all the intention that he was getting from the female cheetah.

"Um, miss your making me quite uncomfortable," Spyro said, "can you please get of off me." He requested, but she kept on cuddling him.

Cynder began to let out low growls; she was beginning to get quite irritated that the dragon she loved was getting fondled by the female cheetah. This was picked up by Spyro who quickly grew even more nervous. Rai also heard the low growls coming from Cynder.

_You care so much for him; I wonder do you care more about him than me?_ He asked himself. He looked up at her and saw that she was extremely upset over this matter.

Spyro began to push the female cheetah of off him.

"Okay that's enough could you just get our food already?" Spyro angrily asked, getting irritated that the she was invading his personal space.

The female cheetah became quite upset by this and pulled away from Spyro.

"Wow you might have saved all of us, but it's no excuse to act rudely to a girl you know." She said, getting upset over the way Spyro had spoken to her.

She then took notice of the light grey dragon also sitting at the table.

"Wow I'm surprised I didn't see you there cutie," She said, stepping closer to him. "How bout we go somewhere after my shift is over?" She asked him.

Cynder began to growl at her again, this time because she was trying to flirt with Rai. The female cheetah took notice of Cynder's growls; she decided to ignore her knowing that she could not win against a dragon.

"So how bout it?" she asked him again.

"Not interested," Rai said in an irritated voice. He then put his head down on his arms; deciding that the best way to deal with her would be to just ignore her.

"I see, I guess all dragons are rude." She said, before leaving the table.

Rai sat there with his head down on his arms thinking to himself, _I guess Cynder cares about me as well. Now the only thing I'm wondering about is who she cares about more._

After finishing their launch the trio left the restaurant.

"That could have gone a bit smoother." Spyro referred to the situation they had with the female cheetah.

"Nothing we can do about it now." Cynder said, walking away from the two dragons.

"She's right you know." Rai said, following her.

"I guess," Spyro said, before running after them.

The trio continued walking towards the exit of the city, but along the way something caught Cynder's attention. It was a small building that they had seemed to have overlooked when they were entering the city. There was a sign on the side of the building.

"The sign says fortune teller." Cynder said, "Can we go in Spyro?"

"I don't know I mean we are on a tight schedule, you know?" Spyro said, he didn't want to waste their time on something like this.

"What's the matter Spyro, you scared about finding out what your future might hold." Rai said, trying to provoke Spyro to enter the building.

"Alright then I guess it can't hurt," Spyro said. He walked into the building with Cynder and Rai close behind him.

As the three dragons entered the building they took a look at their surroundings. The inside of the building was fairly old, the walls were covered with cement blocks, and all the windows were sealed up so that that no natural light could come in. With no natural light the hallways were lit up by dimly lit candles. Spyro guessed that whoever the owner is must not want anyone to know what goes on inside. The dragons made their way into a fairly large room with a male cheetah in the center of it.

"Please take a seat." he said, pointing at the bench near the entrance to the room.

The three dragons did what was asked of them and sat on the bench.

"So which of you will be first?" He asked, he was answered by a raised hand from Cynder. "Very well go through that door and she shall be waiting for you." He pointed at the door next to him.

Cynder stood and continued onward towards the door. She walked over towards it and slowly opened the door. She stepped in and closed the door with her tail. As she took a couple of steps forward she noticed a table with a lighted candle on top of it. There was an empty stool on one side of it, and on the opposite side there was an old female cheetah. She wore a hood over her head that covered up her ears, and she wore a ring on each of her fingers.

"Please take a seat," the old cheetah said.

Cynder took a seat at the table, she felt a bit uncomfortable being in the small room with the old cheetah.

"Let me see your paw sweetie." The old cheetah said, extending her own paw.

Cynder was nervous at first, but in the end she did what was asked. She brought her right paw over to her. The old cheetah took a grasp of her paw, and slowly traced her claw around it. Cynder was not to sure if the old cheetah knew what she was doing. She did not know how the old cheetah was going to tell her, her future by just looking at her paw.

"So you're the ex terror of the skies Cynder, I since a lot of hostility surrounding your old identity."

"I thought your job was to tell the future not remind us about our past." Cynder said, she was a bit upset about being reminded of her dark past.

"To know your future I must examine your past first dear." The old cheetah explained herself to Cynder. She continued tracing her paw until something caught her attention.

"Ah yes, here we go."

"What, what is it," Cynder asked nervously.

"It seems that you will be the deciding factor that will end up changing the lives of two dragons. Then the decision that those two make will end up changing the world for the better or destroying it."

"What do you mean by that?" Cynder asked, worried about the premonition the old cheetah was having.

"The two dragons that are in love with you will constantly be fighting over you. Your decision on which of these dragons you love more then the other. Will cause the one you denied to turn to the forces of darkness. The dragon you chose as your mate will not be able to stop this dragon and will eventually die by his hands."

"No I don't believe you, you're lying," Cynder said, she stood up and prepared to walk away.

"Just remember child these visions are not set in stone you can change them as you which, for better or for worse. These visions might not happen today or tomorrow. It will take some time for them to come true if they come true at all."

After that last sentence from the old cheetah Cynder began walking away.

"She's been in there for a couple of minutes do you think she's alright?" Spyro asked Rai.

"I'm sure she is Cynder can take care of herself. She doesn't need us to protect her."

Cynder came rushing out of the room and sat down next to Spyro.

"Cynder is everything alright?" Spyro asked, seeing that she was upset.

"Yea, I'm fine just a bit upset that's all." She said, trying to hide any more emotions from showing.

"Alright then if you're sure," he said, before standing up, "I guess I'll go in next." Spyro steadily walked into the room and gently closed the door behind him.

"Welcome young dragon," the old cheetah said.

"Hello there," Spyro said. He had made his way over towards her. He took a seat at the table.

"Lend me your paw," the old cheetah told him.

Spyro did as she requested and gave her, his right paw. She began tracing it with her claw.

"Yes, yes so you're Spyro the legendary purple dragon, it's a pleasure meeting you." She gave him a faint smile.

"It's a pleasure meeting you to, so what do you see in my future?" Spyro asked, anxious to see what was in his future.

"Patience young dragon seeing into the future takes time." She said, continuing to run her claw up and down his paw.

* * *

><p>"So what really happened in there?" Rai asked Cynder, he turned his head towards her to show that he wanted to know what really went down in there.<p>

"She made me feel so insecure Rai, she made me question who I really was. She told me horrible things about the future. She basically said that I would be responsible for the destruction of the world." Cynder said, with tears forming in her emerald eyes.

"I never again want to be responsible for the death of an innocent being. I don't want to be a killer Rai. I don't want to kill creatures that don't deserve to die. And even those that do don't deserve to die." Cynder said, her head was now down looking at the floor. Tears were falling from her eyes and onto the floor.

Rai walked over towards her, he took his paw and gently placed it under Cynder's chin. He slowly raised her head from its downward position. He brought it up to eye level, and slowly began to wipe away her tears with the side of his claw.

"Listen to me Cynder your not a killer, to me you've always been the person that I could count on the most. To me you're the farthest thing from a killer there is. Those that call you a killer, who are they to judge they don't know the pain that you've endured. Don't you dare care what they think of you, because in the end you know who you are. You don't need anyone to tell you otherwise." Rai said, trying to cheer up his friend.

"Thanks Rai that helped a lot." Cynder wiped away the last couple of tears form her eyes.

"I don't know what I would do without you." She said throwing her arms around him and embracing him with a hug. Rai did the same; he put his arms around her and hugged her back.

"You're welcome," he said, whispering into her ears.

* * *

><p>"Yes, your future is clear to me now." The cheetah said.<p>

"So what is it like?" Spyro eagerly questioned.

"You young dragon one day very soon will be forced to fight against your own blood. This fight will determine which road the two of you take as dragons. I warn you right now dragon, using the convexity element in that battle will have a long term affect on you. It will not show up immediately, it will take a few years until something triggers it to activate."

"Don't worry I hate using convexity I won't use it, but what do you mean by it." Spyro questioned.

"That is unclear, but one more thing that I can tell you is that you will once again be called to save the world from a force much greater than Malefor. That is all I have to say to you dragon."

"Alright then," Spyro said. He stood up and began to walk away.

"One more warning purple dragon, do not loose your identity." She said.

"I'll try not to," Spyro said, before continuing towards the exit.

* * *

><p>Cynder and Rai now began to pull away from the hug that they were in. Cynder began looking into his silver eyes and he looked back into her Emerald eyes. The two of them brought their lips closer to each other. They were only a couple of inches away from each others lips. Suddenly they heard the door open, and knowing that Spyro was coming back. They quickly pulled away from each other. They were both blushing heavily from the kiss they had almost shared.<p>

"You know I don't thing we can trust what she says. I mean some of it might make since, but all in all I don't think we can completely believe what she says." Spyro said, taking a seat in between the two dragons.

"I guess your next Rai." Spyro said, addressing his brother.

Rai sat up and quietly walked over to the door entering it and closed it behind him.

"You know Cynder I almost could've sworn that he was blushing, but I guess it was just my imagination."

"Umm…yeah," Cynder said. She did not want to make contact with Spyro, because she was still blushing from the incident with Rai.

_Why did I almost kiss him a moment ago, I mean sure I like him, but I love Spyro. I don't like him like I like Spyro do I? I mean sure he has been my best friend ever since I can remember, but that's all right? But if that truly is all then what are these feelings I'm having for him? Could it be possible that I'm falling in love with him as well?_ Cynder asked herself, about her newly discovered feelings for Rai.

Rai made his way over towards the fortune teller and took a seat at the table.

"So how does this work?" He asked, not wanting to waste anytime.

"What's the rush?" The old cheetah asked.

"I just want to get this done as soon as possible that's all." Rai responded, not really caring what his future might hold.

"I see alright then give me your paw dragon." She demanded.

Rai did as she said and brought his right paw over towards her, the old cheetah quickly began tracing it with her claw.

"I see, so your name is Rai, huh?"

"Yes," he responded.

"Your past I can see its dark, so much pain and so lonesome. It also fits your personality quite nicely, but let's see." She continued tracing his paw, "Yes, there is also a small amount of hate, but that's not for anybody in particular it is for yourself. But that's alright because there's also love, and currently it outweighs any of your other emotions. You just tend to hide it, so that you don't get rejected."

"You don't know me, so don't tell me what I do with my emotions." Rai said, getting a bit angry over what the cheetah was saying.

"That is true that I don't, but you see right now you are telling me who you are."

Rai knew what she meant all the information she was getting from him was coming form his paw.

"Alright lets see enough about the past and present lets get to the future. Yes, what I see for you is that you will distance yourself from those that you care about, but let's see what else. Your hunger for power will lead to jealousy, and that will lead to hate; that will eventually lead to darkness. Your future is very much a secret even from me, but what is for sure is that thirst for power, jealousy, hate, and darkness are definitely in your future." The old cheetah said.

"Is that all?" Rai asked.

"One final thing, you will have two choices as to what your future will hold although both decisions end up with you dying."

"Only two choices, huh? Well if that's the case I plan on making a third option, I don't believe in destiny. My decisions are not already made for me I make them as I continue to live. Nobody tells me what I can and can't do. At the end of the day I will decide what's right for me, and those I care about." Rai told the old cheetah before walking out of the room.

"Let's go guys," Rai said, as he rushed out of the building. Spyro and Cynder followed behind him.

The male cheetah waited for the dragons to leave. When he was sure that they were gone he began walking towards the room that the old female cheetah was in. He opened the door and made his way in.

"So how did it go?" The cheetah asked, in a devious voice.

"I did exactly as what was asked of me." The female cheetah responded.

"So you told them their predictions?" The male cheetah questioned.

"Only what they told me of course, you know I can't really predict the future." She said.

"Of course I know, but somebody in their group can. After all our group is usually used for the tasks they see as boring."

"True but I like to see it like we're the first ones they send to deal with pest, you know?" The old female cheetah said.

"So do you think the predictions that they made for the three of them will come true?" The male cheetah questioned.

"Who knows we were only the messengers. We will have to meet back with our team to confirm if any of this was true. But even then I don't think those higher up will tell us." She said.

"So we can't interfere with those three dragons anymore?" He questioned.

"No, well at least not until the first part of those predictions come true." She answered him.

"Alright then I understand."

"Alright, so how about you change us back to our original forms." The old cheetah responded.

"Okay here goes," the male cheetah said. He stood still concentrating on both of their bodies.

A dark aura began to surround the two cheetahs. Then a dark shadow enveloped the two, and then it slowly came back down. As the shadow moved down, it began to reveal a couple of horns poking out from where the two cheetahs had been. As it went down even more, it revealed two set of wings and a pair of tales. Once the shadow had completely disappeared, two dragons stood in the place where the two cheetahs formally had stood.

Where the male cheetah had once stood a large dragon with charcoal colored scales stood. Five medium white colored horns ran down the center of his head all the way to his neck. His wings were black with a dark bluish outline, and the tip of his tale was spear shaped with a dark blue color.

Where the female cheetah had once stood there now stood another large dragon with scarlet colored scales. Two black horns stuck out of the side of his head, and went just a bit pass the back of head. His wings had a light red membrane and a black outline. The tip of his tale was shaped normally with a light black color.

"Glad that's over with I hated being in that old cheetah skin, I mean it wasn't even the right gender I'm a guy after all not a girl." The scarlet dragon said.

"Quit your whining, you're lucky I didn't turn you into something worse. You should appreciate my shadow element; they would have had way more questions if they saw you like that. After all they still thing that Malefor got rid of the dragon community at least most of them." The charcoal dragon explained.

"Whatever man, we only agreed to not stop him from destroying the world, because he was once one of us. We all knew he would fail, I mean he was not as strong as he was when he was in our group."

"That's correct but that was before he gave into corruption, remember?" The charcoal dragon questioned.

"Yea, yea I remember. So are we done here, because we have to go meet up with the others." He received a nod from the charcoal dragon. "Alright let's go."

* * *

><p>Spyro and his group had made their way out of city, and were now flying east once more.<p>

"Come on the sun has already set. We wasted too much time in that city." Rai said, flying a bit faster then the others.

Spyro and Cynder also began flying faster. They all knew that they needed to make up for lost time. They had to find the city before it got to dark to see. They had been flying for a few minutes when Rai spotted something. He saw an odd formation of mountains that seemed to curve around something.

"That's it just follow me." He said, leading the others.

The trio flew to the top of the mountains, as they looked over they saw a medium sized city. The most distinguishable part of the city was the large tower positioned in the middle of it.

"We found it," Spyro said, "alright let's go team." With those words Spyro lead his team down into the city.

* * *

><p><strong>(AN): Please read and review.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>The trio flew all the way down to the city, and made their way to the outside walls of the city.<p>

"Okay first things first," Spyro said addressing his team. "We have to come up with a plan."

"So, what do you propose dear leader." Rai said. He did not like the fact that Spyro was in charge, but arguing with him would only hurt the mission. So, he decided to not challenge his orders unless they were absolutely absurd.

"First of all I think we should come up with a plan incase we get separated from each other. If this does happen, Cynder and I will try to find each other and continue the mission. While we're doing that Rai, you will have to make your way back to Warfang. Once you are there tell the guardians that the mission has been compromised."

"Wait, why am I the one who has to go all the way back? Can't I just look for you two as well?" He asked, not understanding why he was given that task.

"It's simple incase we get captured or something. Out of the three of us you're the fastest, you can probably make it back in a couple of hours if you flew at full speed."

"Alright Spyro then let me ask something. How do you intend getting inside of the city? We can't just walk in, you know?"

"That's easy we will just use Cynder's shadow element to blend in. We'll have to fly over pretty fast, and as soon as we land Cynder will envelop us in a shadow. Then we just walk away from the area until we reach a safe place. Then Cynder can stop using her shadow element, so it doesn't waste her energy. So, the three of us then search for the enslaved dragons get some info and we can be on our way." Spyro explained.

"There is still one thing you forgot to mention. Let's forget for a moment that every dragon inside the city is enslaved. Let's just say that they won't enslave us the moment they notice were dragons. How are you going to be walking around? I mean as soon as they see that you have purple scales, every guard is going to try killing you." Rai stated, he didn't think Spyro's plan made any since.

"I've dealt with these apes before, they're not too bright. So, I'm pretty sure they won't notice I'm the guy who they're supposed to kill." Spyro explained.

"Whatever," Rai said. He was getting tired of arguing, he decided it would be better to just watch Spyro's plan fail.

"Alright everybody let's go."

With Spyro's signal they quickly flew up and over the city's walls. As they came in contact with the floor, Cynder knew it was her turn to help insure they made it inside without getting caught. She quickly used the shadows around them to envelop the three of them. All three of them were then absorbed into the ground and slowly moved along the floor. Cynder stealth fully navigated the three around the ape guards. Once they were in the clear she brought herself, and the two other dragons back onto the surface.

"Alright group let's get going." Spyro whispered.

As the grouped quietly walked, they began hearing noises. The noises began to surround them, and seemed as if they were coming closer.

"Do you guys hear that?" Cynder questioned, wondering if her companions also heard the noises.

"Yea, it sounds like their getting closer," Spyro responded.

Suddenly apes appeared from different locations, and began circling the three dragons.

"So, what do we do now, Spyro?" Rai questioned, knowing that there was no way they were all going to get out of this. There were just too many apes to fight off.

"We'll have to fight them off at least until we can make a break for it."

"Look around Spyro; I don't think we can do that." Cynder added.

"Fine, I guess we're going to have to split up. That way we will each have to deal with considerably less apes. Remember what I told each of you to do incase this happened. Good luck to each of you."

The three dragons each flew off in different directions wanting to get out of the circle as fast as possible. Spyro flew straight ahead avoiding the apes. He had broken through the circle, and was now flying high up in the air. He felt safe knowing that the apes could not possibly reach him all the way up there.

Though this feeling suddenly went away; when he felt something sharp penetrate his back. He looked down trying to find what the source of it was. Spyro saw that an ape was standing on top of a house, holding a bow. He continued forth thinking that it was only a small injury, but it quickly proved him wrong. He felt his head getting heavier, and his body began to feel pretty tired. His eyelids began drooping down, disturbing his visions.

His wings stopped flapping, as he fell towards the ground. He hit the pavement, making a loud noise as he did. It instantly gave away his location to the apes. They picked him up, and dragged him away. The apes were taking him to the location they had been told to bring any dragon they captured.

* * *

><p>"Shhh, be quiet his waking up."<p>

Spyro slowly stood up from the hard floor he was laying on. He rubbed his head with one of his paws. The fall that he had taken last night left his head feeling a bit sore. Once he was done he slowly opened his eyes. He saw a pair of blue eyes starring back at him. He quickly fell back down on the floor from the sudden surprise. He stared at the figure in front of him. To his surprise it was another dragon. The dragon had pink scales, light pink wings, blue eyes, and yellow horns.

"Are you alright?" The dragon asked.

"Uh, yea just a little sore from something that happened last night." He responded, not wanting to tell the dragon the cause of his soreness. He did not want to reveal any information about his mission just yet.

"Hey, Ember!"

Spyro heard another voice come from within the room that he was in. He turned his head towards the sound, and saw three more dragons approaching him. The one a bit ahead of the others had red orange scales, red eyes, yellow horns, and yellow wings.

The dragon slightly behind him had a mix of dark red and dark blue scales. From underneath his chin to underneath his tail everything was covered in dark red scales. He had dark blue scales covering his snout, and the upper tip of his tale. All of his four limbs were covered in dark red scales. His wings had a blue outlining, and the inner membrane was red. He had a pair of red horns sticking upward from the top of his head and two dark blue eyes.

The dragon behind the two had a slender body. She had light red scales covering her entire body, and a pair of ruby colored eyes. She had three red orange horns coming out from her head. Two coming from the side of the top of her head, and the other was positioned slightly behind the two at the center of her head. All three horns were curving towards the back of her head. Her wing membrane was colored light red with red outlines.

"What is it Flame?"

"You shouldn't be disturbing him; he just woke up after all. I'm pretty sure he needs some time to himself." The male red dragon responded.

"I just thought that he might need some company, after all he was knocked out cold last night." Ember responded. She was concerned for the dragon that had appeared to them overnight.

"Wait last night?" Spyro questioned. He was just beginning to acquire information in the situation that he was in.

"Yea, the apes dragged you in here. Any dragons that they capture are taken here, and forced to work for Daxaur." Flame responded. He explained to Spyro where his current location was as best he could.

"Forced? So, wait are you guys the only dragons forced to work for him?" Spyro questioned. He thought that there would be more dragons than just this four.

"Well basically, yea. You see the older dragons either passed away, or were killed for being to useless. The four of us have stuck together as a group. We knew we would have to protect each other. You see the four of us came from the same group of eggs. So being the same age we were able to bond pretty quickly."

"Wait same group?" Spyro questioned. He was fairly certain that these dragons were born from the same group of eggs that he had been born from. He just needed to reassure himself.

"Yea, we were all born from the same group of eggs. Why do you ask?" Flame questioned. He didn't understand why Spyro was so stuck on that topic.

"Because I was born from the same group as you guys. You see we were all sort of separated by this evil dragon that tried to destroy the world. But thanks to me and my friend we managed to defeat him. Thus ending his rule and bringing peace to the world once more." Spyro finished explaining.

"So, if you brought peace then why are we still enslaved?" The dark red and blue dragon questioned.

"Blaze I'm sure that is why he is here. Am I right uh… sorry dragon, but I don't think we caught your name?" The female red dragon said.

"Oh yea, my names Spyro, and your right that's the reason I came here."

"That's nice to hear. My name is Blaire, the dragon next to me is Blaze, the red dragon over there is named Flame, and the pink dragon next to you is named Ember." She said. She had finished her introduction of herself, and the other dragons around her.

"So how do you intend on getting us out of here, Spyro?" Blaze questioned. He wanted to know if Spyro really had a plan, or if he was dumb enough to try and free them without one.

"I did but I never intended on getting captured, so I probably have to come up with a new one." Spyro responded. He felt a bit guilty raising their hopes of escaping only to bring them down.

"You see guys; he doesn't know what he's doing. I say we just continue on with our lives and forget about him."

"Well my plan isn't a total loss. I don't see my friends here, so obviously they're still out there." Spyro commented. He did not want to let them down entirely, so by giving them that bit of information he hoped it would raise their moral.

"Wait the two dragons that have had the apes searching around since yesterday, are your friends?" Flame questioned.

"Yes, we got separated when we snuck into the city. We decided we would have a better chance of escaping if we flew off in different directions."

"You know that every ape in this city is searching for them, and if they are not found within a specific time limit. I fear that, Daxaur will personally go after them himself." Blaire responded. She wanted to let Spyro know what his friends might face if they evaded the apes for to long.

"How long do they have?" Spyro questioned.

"They probably have until dawn." She responded.

"We have to use all the confusion going on around the city to escape before he goes after them." Spyro said. He didn't want Cynder and Rai facing Daxaur alone. If he was anything like Gaul he would be a problem for the two of them.

"You honestly came here thinking you wouldn't have to face him. You and your friends better be up for the challenge, or else there is no way that you're going to make it out of the city." Blaze responded. He was still unsure that Spyro knew what he was doing.

"We are it's just that…" Spyro was interrupted by a loud crackling noise coming from outside the castle. He looked around, and saw that it had also gotten the attention of the four dragons.

_That sound, I know exactly what it is, but I told him to get out the city if we ever got separated. _Spyro thought to himself.

"Can we see what's going on outside?" Spyro questioned. He wanted to know the situation outside of the room that he was in.

"Yea, follow us." Flame said.

He began walking towards the other side of the room. The other three dragons followed behind him, with Spyro right behind them. On the other side of the large room, a staircase could be seen that led upwards. The dragons made their way up the spiral staircase, and into a room that seemed to curve around. The right side of the room had concrete walls, while the other side was covered by a single large glass. At the end of the room there was just another concrete wall.

The dragons went up towards the glass, and began searching for anything that could have had possibly made that noise. The glass wall gave a view of half of the city, so all of them had a pretty good view of the city. To Spyro this was the first time he had seen the city in daylight. To him the city had an over all dark nature to it. Every single building was either made of metal, or concrete. Then he realized that the tower he had seen before entering the city was not visible anymore.

"So, are we inside the city's tower?" Spyro asked.

"Yea, Daxaur likes to keep us close to him, he resides at the very top while we reside at the bottom." Flame responded.

"Hey look at that," Ember said.

Everybody turned their attention towards the sight that she had been pointing at. They saw a crooked white bluish attack envelope a group of apes. It continued strait on destroying anything, or anyone that came in contact with it. They all tried looking for the source of the attack, but they found nothing.

"What was that?" Flame asked.

_Rai I told you to go find help, but no you have to do everything your way. _Spyro thought to himself about the incident that happened down there.

"That's it I'm getting us out of here." Spyro said.

He had, had enough of being trapped inside the tower. He was ready to lead the other dragons out of it. He stepped away from the glass wall. Once he was a few feet away he began charging up an attack. But to his surprise nothing was happening. He felt no energy coming from within him.

"Hey what's wrong why can't I use my attack?" Spyro questioned.

"We can't use magic down here; the whole lower half of the tower has a spell cast over it. It prevents the usage of magic from any creature that resides within the lower part of the tower. That means we can't use our elemental attacks, since they take up magical energy. So as long as we're down here none of us can use any elemental attack." Blaze said, explaining the situation to Spyro.

Spyro stood there thinking of another way to escape. Since they couldn't get out using their elemental attacks, he had to come up with something else. He looked at the glass wall in front of him. A sudden idea came rushing into his head, Spyro felt like a fool not realizing it earlier. Why go through all the trouble of using up magical energy, when he could just beak the glass wall.

"Okay so if we can't use them, then I guess we'll just have to get out of here with sheer force." Spyro said.

Spyro began rushing at the glass wall in front of him. He knew that this time there was no way it was going to fail. The wall was made out of glass, and last time he checked glass is easily breakable.

"Spyro wait!" Flame called out.

"What?" Spyro said.

He was to busy looking over at Flame to realize that the glass wall was now in front of him. He crashed into it head first. The glass absorbed the blow, and he bounced off of the mirror back onto the ground. Spyro looked back up at the glass wall, and to his surprise the wall had no cracks on it.

"How is that possible? I gave it everything I had after all." Spyro questioned. He was a bit confused why the wall didn't break.

"We should've told you earlier Spyro," Flame began speaking. "The glass wall itself has a spell cast over it. The apes knew that building a large glass wall was dangerous for them. Some of the dragons enslaved would see it as a way to escape the tower. So, Daxaur put a spell over it to strengthen it. The wall can not be broken from the inside, but from the outside it can. If a dragon were to get outside they could use their elemental breath attack and break the glass."

"So that's it we're stuck in here, Spyro there's no way getting out." Ember said. She tried comforting him. He seemed a bit sad after failing to break the wall.

"No there's still one more way that I can get you guys out of here." Spyro said. He was still determined to get them out of the tower. He still had one option left, although it was the most dangerous one.

"What is it Spyro?" Ember asked.

"Listen up dragons," An ape said.

The five of them turned their heads over towards the direction that the voice had come from. They were not aware that an ape had entered the room. They knew that whatever he had to say was not going to be good.

"Lord Daxaur wants to meet with the five of you, so follow me." He said.

The ape led the five dragons back towards the large room they had started in. He positioned himself and the five dragons in the center of the room. The room's center pedestal moved, and began rising up towards the air. The pedestal elevated them higher up; they were quickly ascending towards the top of the tower. It began slowing down, the further up they got. It eventually came to a complete stop once the group had arrived at a fairly large room.

"Welcome dragons," said a deep menacing voice in front of them.

The five dragons starred at the creature in front of them that was sitting on a thrown. The creature was an ape that was about the same size as Gaul. He wore red armor that covered his chest and torso. His legs and arms were also covered in this armor. He had a staff leaning up against the side of his thrown. The staff itself was pure metal, the whole lower half of it had strange markings inscribed on it. Towards the top of the staff a white orb was fused together with it. Coming out of the orb where multiple sharp metal tips.

"But more specifically welcome purple dragon of legend." He said, directing the comment towards, Spyro.

"So I guess you must be, Daxaur." Spyro replied. He was face to face with the one that had enslaved the dragons that lived within the city.

"You are right dragon, so since you're still alive I take it the rumors are true. You have killed the dark master. Never would I have thought that someone as powerful as him would have been defeated; especially by someone of the likes of you."

"I had to stop him he was going to bring an end to the world. Malefor had no moral sense; all he wanted was to bring an end to this world." Spyro said. He expressed his thoughts on Malefor to Daxaur.

"I suppose that's true, but all of that is in the past now. What is to be focused on is your particular circumstance right now. You are right now in my city, but more specifically in my tower. So I ask you now, what brings you here dragon?" Daxaur asked. He knew that there had to be a reason why Spyro was in his city.

"I have come to free these dragons from you. You have no right to keep them here." Spyro said, he looked back at the four dragons behind him, and then back to Daxaur.

"You seem so sure of yourself, but I wonder would you still stick to that after you hear what I have to say." Daxaur said. He wanted to test how truly determined Spyro was with saving those dragons.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'll give you two options dragon. One I let you and the two other dragons you came with leave my city peacefully. I will tell my men, to lead the three of you out of this city."

"What will happen to them?" Spyro said. He was referring to the four dragons he had just recently met.

"They will remain here working for me until they are no longer of any use to me. After that they will be disposed of as I see fit. The second option that I am granting you is that you stay with those dragons. You will work for me, just like they have been doing their entire life, and they will be free. Your two friends will be personally executed by me today at dawn. So dragon those are your two choices, so now make your decision."

Spyro stood still he could not make up his mind between the two choices he was being offered. Either one of those would end badly. If he chose the first option the four dragons he had met would be worked to death. The other option didn't offer much satisfaction either. He would end up freeing the four dragons, but he himself would be imprisoned. To top it of Cynder and Rai would be killed.

_Either way I'm screwed. I should just choose the first one, and leave this place with Cynder and Rai. But no that would be too selfish. I don't want to be responsible for what happens to these dragons. The second option is that I will be enslaved, and they will be free. But then Cynder and Rai would most likely end up dead. _Spyro thought to himself.

"I don't have all day dragon." Daxaur said, getting a bit frustrated waiting for Spyro to choose.

_I can't let Cynder die she means so much to me. But knowing her she would probably tell me to choose the first one. She wouldn't want these dragons to be slaves their entire lives. Rai probably won't care which one I choose. But I can't let the dragon I love, and my brother die._

"Make up your mind dragon, or I'll just kill all five of you right now."

_Kill right now? Wait that's it. He doesn't have Cynder and Rai at the moment. The two of them won't get captured so easily. I don't think he'll be able to capture my bother at all, and Cynder is probably with him. That's it maybe I can buy some time until I can decide on what's best. On top of that maybe I can come up with another plan._

"I'll only give you my answer if you show me that my friends are all right." Spyro said, "So since you said that at dawn you'll execute them. That's when I'll give you my answer."

The four dragons behind Spyro looked at Daxaur. They knew he wasn't the type to agree to something like this. They feared the worse for Spyro. He had proposed something that only benefited him and not Daxaur.

"Fine by me dragon," he said. He surprised the four dragons with his response.

"Thank you, sir." Spyro said. He felt a bit more at ease now that he had more time to decide.

"One more thing dragon," Daxaur said. He grabbed his staff, and pointing it at the dragons behind Spyro. "Don't ever make me wait like that again."

He released a light blue attack from his staff. It was hastily approaching the dragons. It traveled to fast for them to have any idea who the blast was targeting. Just as it was about to connect with one of them they realized who it was targeting. Ember brazed herself for the blast. She didn't know how strong it was, but knew that she had to do something to weaken the blow. So she closed her eyes, and covered herself with her wings.

Spyro had seen that the blast was aimed at Ember before the others had. He had already been running towards her when she had decided to use her wings as a shield. He threw himself in front of her, and quickly brought his wing in front of him. As he brought them forward something happened.

The floor that was made out of hard earth followed each of Spyro's wings. On his left side a piece of floor was following his left wing, and the same was happening on his right side. He brought his wings up to his face to protect him from the blast that was coming. The two pieces of floor followed this, and intersected in the middle creating some sort of shield. The blast made contact with the earth shield in front of Spyro.

The contact between the two objects created a dust cloud that surrounded, Spyro and Ember. It slowly disappeared revealing an unharmed Ember, but for Spyro it was a different story. His wings were frozen solid from the blast. The rest of his body seemed to be untouched. The shield that he had created from the rocky floor had a hole in the center and was also frozen. It seemed that the shield was only able to weaken the attack.

Spyro used his fire breath to melt away the ice covering his wings. He turned back towards Ember who was laying on the ground looking up at him.

"Are you okay Ember?" He said, looking down at her. He extended his paw towards her.

"Um, yea thanks to you Spyro" she said, blushing slightly. She then noticed Spyro's paw in front of her. She brought her paw towards his and took hold of it. With Spyro's help she easily managed to get back on her feet. She then launched herself at Spyro, and took hold of the purple dragon embracing him in a hug.

"Thank you, so much Spyro I thought that was it for me." She said, rubbing her head in his chest.

"I wouldn't let anything happen to you Ember. You guys are my friends, and I would do anything to protect my friends."

She pulled away from Spyro, who stepped back over to his original spot. Ember just watched him. _Maybe we can be more then friends Spyro,_ she thought to herself.

"You have until dawn dragon, now be gone from here." Daxaur said. He tapped the floor with his staff. It made the pedestal that the dragons were on descend downwards to the bottom floor once more.

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><p><strong>(AN): Please read and review.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
><strong>

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><p>The pedestal took the five dragons back to the lower half of the tower. It came to a halt when it made contact with the floor. The dragons stepped off of it one by one. The four dragons eagerly wanted to know what Spyro's decision was going to be. Spyro himself did not know. He only asked for more time in order to come up with a plan. He figured that if he couldn't decide between the two choices. He might as well come up with a plan that would get all five of them out of the tower.<p>

"So what is your decision, Spyro?" Blaze asked, eagerly wanting to know his decision.

"I don't know," he responded.

Spyro honestly did not know what he was going to do. Blaze was getting impatient with him. The red and blue dragon walked over towards Spyro, and pushed him against the wall.

"Listen carefully I don't want any of them to die. I know that you are probably leaning on the option to let your friends live. But don't bother, because most likely they're already dead. Regardless of what Daxaur says. There is no way they could have avoided capture for this long. So just choose to let us escape."

"That's enough Blaze," Blaire said pushing Blaze's arm off Spyro. "Can't you see that he's upset? How would you feel if you were responsible with our lives?"

"Fine, but when we all die because of him. You'll see that I was right." He said, walking towards the other side of the room.

"Are you alright Spyro?" she asked, noticing that Spyro was sadly looking at the ground.

"I feel so useless. All I am doing is prolonging the inevitable. Some sort of savior I am. I can't even manage to rescue four dragons."

"That's not true Spyro." Flame said, running towards him. "You managed to beat Malefor, and save the world."

"And you managed to save me." Ember said, arriving to cheer up the purple dragon.

"You see Spyro we all believe in you, even Blaze. He just doesn't want to show it." She said, placing a paw over Spyro's shoulder.

"Thanks, guys," Spyro said, cheering back up a little. "But even if I wanted to get you guys out of here I couldn't. You see my plan requires that one of my friends from the outside come and help me. But it is almost impossible to get their attention from in here."

"Spyro"

"Great I think I'm starting to loose it now. I could have sworn I just heard one of my friends."

"Spyro"

"Hey wait that's not my imagination. It's coming from outside." He said, turning his head around. So that he could locate the source of the sound. He found a small little window at the side of one of the walls. He walked towards it. He leaned his head against it managing to get a glimpse of the outside. He saw a black figure moving around outside.

"Cynder," he called out.

The figure stopped in midflight, and made its way over to the small window.

"Spyro, is that you?" Cynder said.

"Yea I was captured and imprisoned in this tower." Spyro explained his situation to her.

"You too, I guess it's up to me to get both of you out of here."

"What do you mean it's only me in here, and the dragons we were sent to rescue." He addressed her.

"You found them?" She curiously asked.

"Yea it seems they were forced into slavery creating weapons for Malefors's army. We can't get out of here. There are several ways in, but only one way out and that's not even an option, because Daxaur is guarding the exit."

Cynder giggled at Spyro's predicament.

"Hey what's so funny this is a serious matter you know?"

"I know it's just a little funny don't you think. That the legendary purple dragon can't even escape from a single tower," She said.

"You wouldn't be laughing if you were in here. Besides I prefer it to be me then you in here right now. As long as you are alright that's enough for me." Spyro said.

"Well if you care about me that much I guess its only fair that I try and get you out of there." She said getting even closer to the window.

"You have a plan?" Spyro asked.

"Yea, and since the two of you are already in the tower we don't have to worry about getting another one of you in."

"Wait so the other that your were speaking of is Ria? He was captured as well." Spyro said, not being able to believe it.

"Yea it seems he forgot that using your element repeatedly will eventually tire you out. He was in the middle of getting the apes attention, so that I could find you. When he ran out of energy the apes showed no mercy and took him in as their prisoner."

"But I haven't seen him around." Spyro said.

"My guess is that they either haven't brought him in yet, or he's somewhere else in the tower. Either way for my plan to work we're going have to use both of your powers."

"Alright, so what's your plan?" Spyro focused his indentation on Cynder.

"Well where going to have two of them the first one is only to be used if Ria is with you guys by then. If he is not we are going have to use the second plan, got that?"

Spyro stood by the window listening to Cynder memorizing the plan that they would soon execute in order to leave the castle with all the imprisoned dragons.

"Okay you understand?" Cynder questioned.

"Yea so everything happens at sundown?"

"Yea I'll be back by then, and help you guys evacuate the dragons."

"Alright then I guess I'm off" Cynder said, getting herself ready to fly away. But before she could she felt something take hold of her forepaw. It was Spyro who had taken a hold of her.

"Just be careful okay Cynder." Spyro said, showing the he had great concern for her.

"I'll be fine Spyro you're the one that I'm worried about."

With that he let go off her and as quickly as she had appeared to his. She had just as quickly disappeared.

"Hey Spyro, who was that dragon you were talking to?" Flame questioned him.

"It was a friend who is going to help us get out of here."

"What do you mean get out, you know from experience it's damn near impossible to get out of this tower." Blaze said, not having any confidence in Spyro.

"She came up with a plan to help us, but before I go into detail. I need you guys to tell me what your elements are."

"Well the three of us Blaze, Blaire, and I are fire users. But Ember on the other hand…"

"I have a strange element Spyro." Ember tolled him.

"Well it doesn't matter if it's strange. I have four and you don't see me being upset over it."

"If you must know I am a red crystal element user." Ember said, revealing her element to him.

"Wait so you mean that your power lets you heal those that have been injured?" Spyro asked, he was intrigued about her element.

"Yea, but only to a certain extent," she replied. "I can't bring back dragons that have died, or reconstruct lost body parts."

"I see, but regardless of that your element will prove to be very useful. Okay everybody listen up I'm about to explain the plan."

Everybody stepped closer to Spyro so they could hear every detail of the plan that would eventually lead to their escape.

* * *

><p>"Master we have captured someone for you." The ape soldier addressed his Master.<p>

"Another dragon fine bring him forth let us see who it is this time." Daxaur said he was not very enthusiastic about meeting another dragon. But as they brought the dragon closer his eyes began to widen at the site in front of him.

"Well this is a wonderful surprise to think that you're still alive. Malefor must have truly had great expectations of you, Rai."

"Malefor's dead, Spyro the purple dragon killed him." Rai said, hoping that the statement alone would be enough to send shivers down his spine.

"Well that is quite tragic, but I plan on avenging him. You see not only do I have you, but also the said purple dragon that defeated my master."

Daxaur let out a laugh, as Ria stood in disbelief that Spyro had been captures so easily.

"Now what to do with you, I always thought that you would be dead by now. So I guess I'll have to deal with you personally. Then I'll move onto Spyro avenging Malefor in the process."

"Is that what you truly think is going to happen? You won't even be able to defeat me." Ria said, as he got himself into his battle stance.

"Don't get to ahead of yourself right now you're out of energy. Let me replenish it for you, when I beat you I want you to be at full energy." Daxaur grabbed his staff and pointed it at Rai. A strange green light came from the staff, and enveloped Rai in it. Then it quickly disappeared revealing Rai, who had a grin on his face.

"You've only made your defeat that more certain, Daxaur." Rai said, and then quickly rushed over towards Daxaur.

Daxaur used his staff to block the incoming hit from Rai's tale. Rai kept going on the offensive while Daxaur kept defending himself from the attacks. Rai delivered a punch to Daxaur, but before it could land a hit. Daxaur managed to hake a hold of Rai and throw him across the room.

"How did you get so fast Rai? I don't remember you having that kind of speed." Daxaur questioned the grey dragon.

"Easy I discovered my element right after you left, you see my element is lighting so it naturally makes me much faster then any other dragon." Rai said.

"Is that so?" Daxaur said. His staff then began to change to a yellowish color. Before Rai could figure out what was happening. He felt a large object strike his stomach, and just as quickly he felt blood rushing towards his mouth. He coughed blood out as he tried to regain his focus, and figure out what had just happened. How did Daxaur travel from one end of the room so quickly?

"If you are wondering how this happened I used and electrical base element attack that is all. True lightning is certainly faster than electricity, but you are still a novice. That element is one of a kind and for you to have it is extremely lucky. But even so you haven't properly been trained in using it. Compared to somebody who is quite skilled at using their element you are nothing but an amateur. The difference between you and them is like the difference between an adult and a child."

"That all may be true but how in the world did you acquire elemental powers. Only dragons have the ability to harness such power." Rai said, backing away from Daxaur in the process.

"This staff here, that I hold grants me the power of the eight main elements. The attack now that I just used is called Electric Element: Electricity Speed. It grants me the power to travel at the speed of an electric signal. Surpassing your natural born speed and every other dragon's as well. I am unbeatable; think about it Malefor only had four of these while I have all eight."

Rai Stepped forward and began to ready an attack.

"That may be true, but unlike Malefor you're using a weapon to help you. What I see is a limitation unlike a true dragon who knows no limit to the power he can achieve. I'll defeat you using that." Rai released his lightning attack.

Daxaur also released a huge burst of electricity towards the dragon. Unlike Rai's attack which was just a single attack. Daxaur's electric attack combined into one single mass that was curving all around the room.

"Electric Element: Electricity Surge!" He called out the name of his attack.

The two attacks met quarter of the way from Daxaur. It was evident that Rai's lightning had traveled faster, but in terms of strength the attacks were equal. Then just as quickly as the attacks had collided an explosion happened at the center of the conflict sending both fighters flying across the opposite ends of the room.

"It seems we are equal in strength." Rai said with a smile. He was sitting up against the wall of the room, waiting for the dust to settle.

* * *

><p>"Okay everybody understand the plan?" Spyro asked the small group of dragons in front of him.<p>

"Its risky but it just might work." Flame said.

"Well it will have to do; I'm tired of this place. If this plan is the best shot we have at getting out of here, then I'll take it." Blaze added.

"Alright then it looks like the sun is beginning to set. So it seems were going to have to initiate the second plan." Spyro said, looking out the window. "Any second now one of the apes will be opening up the door to take us to Daxaur. So everybody take your positions we only have one shot at this."

Blaze and Blaire got behind the door that they were sure the ape would be coming threw. While Spyro, Flame, and Ember waited for the ape to open the door. Slowly the knob on the door began to turn. It opened revealing the same ape that had come for them earlier. As soon as he stepped out Blaire and Blaze took hold of the ape. They knocked him down towards the floor. Blaze punched the ape across the face. The hit was strong enough to knock him out; they left him on the ground and continued upwards towards the next room.

All five dragons hurried knowing that it would not be long before the apes noticed that they were gone. They made it towards the room with the large window.

"What now, Spyro?" Blaire asked the purple dragon.

Suddenly they noticed a greenish orb heading towards the window. When the orb made contact with the window it shattered revealing their freedom to them. They looked towards the sky trying to find where the origin of the orb had come from. They noticed a black figure up in the sky.

"Cynder!" Spyro called out.

Cynder flew towards Spyro and the other dragons landing inside the castle. She went towards Spyro and nuzzled up to him. Ember stared at the two dragons as jealousy grew inside of her. Seeing her Spyro showing affection towards another dragon, was causing her to feel the emotion.

"So I take it were going for plan two?" Cynder asked.

"Yea, he never showed up I got a pretty good idea where he might be. So I'll go there while you lead them out of the city."

"Hold on Spyro we can stay and help. Plus I think I have a good idea of where you're heading, and you are going to need our help if you plan on facing him." Flame added.

"As much as I hate this, Flame is right you can't face him on your own Spyro." Blaze added.

"Don't worry if I'm right about this once I get there someone will be there to help me out, but if the four of you truly want to help. Don't let any apes get close to this tower."

"Don't worry Spyro I'll look after them." Cynder added.

"I know you will. The five of you take care of each other alright." Spyro said, before heading up towards the castle.

"Alright you heard him the four of you are with me now. We have to buy Spyro enough time, so let's head toward the ground." Cynder said, before flying back down towards the outside of the castle.

"Great now we're taking orders from a girl." Blaze said, but just as the words left his mouth he was received a smack to the head from Blaire's tail.

"You rather be stuck in this tower for the rest of your life." Blaire said heading towards the direction Cynder was going.

"I guess not." He said, following Blaire and the rest his comrades.

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><p>Spyro made his way up the tower flying across the flight of stairs that led towards the upper part of the tower. He could slowly feel his powers returning to him. He knew he would be able to use his powers again once he was all the way at the top. But not even that would be able to defeat his enemy. The last encounter he had with Daxaur had ended in his powers not being able to do anything against the Ape master. The staff he controlled nullified all his attacks.<p>

He saw the door that lead to his room in front of him. Spyro flew right through it, and made it into the room that Daxaur was in. What immediately caught his attention was that a fight was already issuing, and it was between his brother and Daxaur. Both of them were gasping from the intense fighting that both of them were in. He looked at his brother and noticed that he had small bits of scratches all over his body. Then he looked over at Daxaur and apart from all the panting he was doing. He had no visible signs of injury anywhere on his body. Then it hit Spyro his brother was loosing the battle.

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><p><strong>(AN): Please read and review.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
><strong>

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><p>"Well look who has come to join our battle." Daxaur said, as he pointed out Spyro to Rai, who turned his head towards the purple dragon.<p>

"Don't worry this battle is just between the two of us. He won't interfere in this," Rai commented.

"What do you mean I won't interfere? You obviously need my help." Spyro retorted.

"You'll only be a nuisance; after all I doubt you can hold your own against him."

"Oh and you're doing such a wonderful job all by yourself. Anyone can tell that you're fighting a loosing battle. Let me join in and we can take him on together." Spyro responded

"Fine you want to help. Get over here then."

Spyro flew over towards Rai landing to the left of him.

"So what's the situation here?" Spyro asked.

"He can move at an incredible speed that outclasses even my own. He uses that staff to give himself the element of one of the eight main ones. It seems that he is extremely skilled at using all of them." Rai explained to Spyro.

"So not only can he absorb elements, but use them as well."

"He can absorb them?" Rai asked, not having any prior knowledge of this ability before.

"Yes, it happened during an argument I had with him. It seems that staff can take in any attack that we throw at him."

"Then why hasn't he been able to absorb my lightning?" Rai asked him.

"The only possible answer I can come up with is that he isn't able to. He must not be able to absorb elements that don't fit into the eight main ones. Since your lighting isn't one of the main elements. His staff must not be able to absorb it."

"Then maybe we can use that to our advantage. If only one of us could come up with an opening the other would be free to attack." Rai said.

"That may indeed be the only way to win this battle." Spyro added.

The two of them readied themselves to attack Daxaur.

"So, Spyro I see you've decided to not only have your original group loose their lives, but you have also decided to give up your own life." Daxaur said, spinning his staff around to the side of him. "Well come on what are you two waiting for!" Daxaur shouted, taunting the two young dragons.

"You asked for it." Spyro called out, before running towards Daxaur.

The two dragons made their way over towards him, but just as quickly as they had started. Daxaur was already in front of them using his speed to catch them of guard. He used his staff to smack them back across the room. Both dragons hit the wall hard enough to make it crack.

"Are you alright?" Spyro asked Rai.

"Yea I'm fine; I've been taking hits like this all day. We should try for an elemental attack this time." Rai said, introducing the idea to Spyro, who seemed to accept it.

Spyro opened up his mouth, fire began spewing out of it. The fire quickly made its way over towards Daxaur, who stood in his place not worrying about the fire heading his way.

"It seems even the legendary purple dragon's attacks are immature compared to mine." Daxaur said, as he moved his staff in front of him again. He positioned the top of the staff towards the incoming fire. "This is what a real fire attack is supposed to be like."

Daxaur took hold of Spyro's fire with his staff, and managed to manipulate the fire. He began moving it the way he wanted it to move. The fire twisted itself until it was just a swirling flaming line. Spyro just stood there amazed at what Daxaur had done to his attack.

"I call this little attack Fire Element: Fire Whip."

He swung his staff towards Spyro, which was followed by the fiery whip. Spyro readied himself and used his wings as a shield. The fire whip struck his wings with enough force that it once again threw him against the wall. The fire then retreated into the staff.

"How's that for a fire attack dragon." Daxaur mocked.

"Not bad, but you let yourself wide open." Unknown to Daxaur, Rai had made his way behind him while he was focused on Spyro.

"Let's end this," Rai said. Before he delivered a lightning attack too Daxaur's back. The attack forced his body to hit one of the walls of the tower. The walls once again cracked from the pressure of having such large of a force make contact with it. His body then dropped downwards to the floor.

"Is it over?" Spyro called out while getting to his feet once more.

"Well it seems that I have underestimated you two. Alone you are weak, but together you actually pose a challenge. It seems I'll actually have to fight seriously now." Daxaur said, while standing back up.

"That attack it should have had ended it. I put everything into that." Rai said, with a shocked expression.

"This armor that I'm wearing isn't just for show you know. It weakens magical attacks by fifty percent. Also if that truly was your best, then you better give up now." Daxaur said, harshly. "Now let me show you what I can do."

Daxaur made his way over towards Rai at an incredible speed. The grey dragon didn't even realize the ape was in front of him until it was too late.

"What?" Rai let out in surprise. His eyes were wide open, as he noticed that Daxaur now had a hold of him. He then threw Rai towards his brother, with immense strength. Spyro managed to catch Rai, in mid air. The force at which Rai was thrown was pushing Spyro back. Before he had stopped Spyro began to cough up blood. He knew what it was; he looked up to see Daxaur smiling right in front of him. He looked down to see that Rai was also coughing up blood. Somehow his punch had gone threw his brother, and damaged him as well.

"Pathetic," Daxaur said, as he let the dragons fall towards the ground.

"How did you manage to do that?" Spyro asked.

"I used my staff to grant me the element of wind. Then I simply infused my fist with it. So when I made contact with you the wind passed threw your brother, and made contact with you as well." Daxaur explained, as he landed back on the ground.

Spyro and Rai got back to their feet, and realized that something had to be done about that staff. If they wanted to take it from him, they would somehow have to stop Daxaur from moving.

"Spyro I need you to immobilize him if even for a moment. That way I can finish him off with one attack." Rai said, getting ready to go on the offensive again.

"What good is that going to do, his covered in armor? Unless your going for the only part that isn't, his head."

"Exactly," he said.

"Alright then, but you do know you're only going to have one shot at this. If you miss it will all be over." Spyro said, reminding Rai to aim carefully.

"I only need one, besides I'm sure I won't fail with a partner like you." Rai said, complementing the purple dragon.

"Alright let's do this."

Spyro rushed towards Daxaur, who again instantly disappeared before his eyes.

"Take this!" Spyro brought his hands up towards the air, and slammed them back onto the ground. The force raised the floor upward, creating an earth wall across the middle of the room.

"Let's see you get through that." Spyro confidently yelled out.

"I already have."

Daxaur stood right in front of Spyro, but he noticed something strange about the purple dragon, he was smiling.

"I just needed you to get close to me." Spyro said, before leaping towards Daxaur. The purple dragon opened his maw mid jump, and let out a fire blast from his mouth. The fire quickly covered the front half of Spyro's body. Daxaur saw the reddish figure approaching, and instinctively sidestepped away from him.

"Here take this dragon." Daxaur said, raising his staff towards the fiery Spyro. His staff unleashed a bluish ice ray. It instantly evaporated Spyro's fire off of his body. But just as quickly as it was gone, a new greenish orb surrounded Spyro. He once again rushed towards Daxaur, but this time the ape jumped over Spyro's attack. He spun around, and launched a burning rock from his staff. It made contact with Spyro's orb and shattered it.

"Well that's one down." Daxaur let out a triumphant laughter. He thought that he had killed Spyro with that last attack. But unknown to him Spyro had jumped out of the orb, at the exact moment that Daxaur had jumped to avoid his attack. Now the purple dragon was right behind him. He took advantage of Daxaur's current state. Spyro spun around the ape, and used his ice element to freeze the bottom half of his body. Now he could no longer move.

"What is this!" Daxaur yelled out in fear.

"I have frozen your body from the waist down, Daxaur this is the end for you." Spyro said, in a serious tone. "Now Rai, finish it!"

Rai was behind Spyro on the other half of the room. He had patiently been waiting for Spyro to immobilize Daxaur, so that he would be able to launch his attack at him. He saw the opening arise when Spyro had called out his name. He quickly charged up his lighting, and let the whitish blue hued attack escape from his moth. The crackling sound from the lighting could be heard, as it approached its target. Daxaur knew what was approaching him, and feared for his life. He then suddenly felt what he had hoped for. His arms had not been frozen by the attack from earlier.

He immediately took a hold of his staff, and twirled his right shoulder around his back. He made sure that the white orb at the top of the staff was facing the attack that was heading his way. If he was right, then the lighting was targeting the only part of his body that did not have armor his head. The crooked lighting made contact, but not with Daxaur's head. The white orb had taken the blow for him absorbing the lighting.

"But I thought he couldn't absorb elements that were not part of the main ones." Spyro said in shock. He watched his enemy use the sharpened lower half of the staff to free himself from the ice.

"No that was a direct hit, he should be dead." Rai said, still taking in the fact that his opponent had absorbed his attack.

"Well you two seem to have underestimated me, it will be a mistake that none of you will be able to regret."

Daxaur pointed the sharp end of his staff towards Spyro, and before the purple dragon could even realize that he was being targeted. He felt an immense pain spread through out his body. He had not realized it, but his body had begun to go backwards. It was then that he was finally able to focus his eyes. He saw something that he thought would have been impossible. Coming from the sharpened end of Daxaur's staff was the lightning that he had just absorbed. Daxaur could not only absorb lighting, but unleash it as well. The amount of pain that the purple dragon was receiving was enough to make him black out.

Rai caught his brother before his body had a chance to make contact with the wall behind them. He positioned himself in front of the lighting, with his back facing it. He took himself and Spyro out of the lighting's line of fire by jumping towards the right. He gently placed the unconscious dragon on the floor and checked for a heart beat. He found a faint heartbeat coming from the purple dragon. It was a sign that Spyro was still alive, but as he was now he could not continue the fight.

"As long as you're still alive Spyro, you didn't fail me." Rai said, acknowledging Spyro before changing his attention towards Daxaur.

"I will make you pay for what you did to him." Rai said, heading towards the ape.

"Make me pay I would gladly like to see you try." Daxaur once again instantly disappeared from view.

He reappeared in front of Rai, and swung his left fist towards him. This time though the same result he was expecting did not happen. Instead, to his astonishment, he saw the grey dragon duck under his fist. The dragon then delivered a tail whip towards the ape's stomach. It was enough to send him a couple of feet backwards.

"That was nothing, but a fluke. You were lucky that time dragon." Daxaur said furiously, before he vanished again.

He used his speed to get behind the dragon, and swung his staff around. He attempted to use the side of his staff to crack the dragon's skull open. But once more to his surprise the dragon turned around, and managed to jump over the staff avoiding his attack. Then he followed up by kicking Daxaur in the face. The force knocked the ape master several feet backward.

"That is it, how is it that you're avoiding all of my attacks?" Daxaur asked the dragon.

"I didn't think it was possible at first, but somehow I can use that ability as well. It must have awakened under the stress of this battle, or maybe the emotions that I felt for Spyro, were what triggered it." Rai responded confidently, now more sure of himself.

"What do you mean?" Daxaur asked, now a little frightened of his enemy.

Rai looked up at Daxaur, and immediately the ape master noticed something unusual about the dragon's eye color. They still had his original silver color, but now they had a light bluish hue as well.

"I can use dragon time," he responded.

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><p><strong>(AN): Please read and review.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
><strong>

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><p><em>Meanwhile<em>

Cynder had taken the four dragons out of the tower, and were now fighting off swarms of apes. They could not let a single one enter the tower, or else they would surely help Daxaur. The dragons needed to buy Spyro enough time. He had told them to go on without him, and to stop any ape who tried to enter. They were doing their best to fight the incoming groups of apes.

Flame, Blaze, and Blair were all using their fire element to torch the incoming apes. Ember stood behind them, her element was not meant for attacking but for healing. Anytime an ape would injure one of them, she would quickly heal her comrade. Cynder was up in front of the four dragons. She was using her fear element to paralyze the incoming enemies, and her wind element to send them flying away.

"How much longer do we have to keep this up?" Blaze asked.

"Stop your complaining Blaze. This is the least we can do for Spyro, because without his help we would still be stuck in that castle." Blaire responded, she then turned around and burned three apes behind her.

"She is right we owe Spyro big for what he did for us. Plus it's not all that bad we can finally use our powers again." Flame commented, while charging right into a group of incoming apes.

"To me it seems like Spyro is always thinking of others before himself. That's just the type of dragon he is. He would much rather risk his own life then let someone get hurt. Now we must do the same for Spyro." Cynder said, as she continued attacking the apes.

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><p>"Dragon Time, but only a purple dragon should be able to use that ability." Daxaur said, surprised that the dragon in front of him was using the ability.<p>

"I didn't even know I could use it. Maybe it was with his help that I was able to activate it without being a purple dragon." Rai said, looking over at Spyro's unconscious body. "I know that I can't use it as well as a purple dragon can. But for that short instance that I am able to use it. I can see your movements even at your greatest speed." Rai explained what he knew about the ability he had discovered.

"To discover something like that in battle is truly amazing. So why don't you just slow down time completely and finish me off." Daxaur replied back in anger.

"To tell you the truth I don't know how, and I'm doubtful that I can even do that. I'm not a purple dragon, doing something like slowing down time is probably impossible for me. It's a miracle that I was even able to activate this ability. This ability probably branches off of the Dragon Time ability."

"So then what are you able to do?" Daxaur asked, intrigued by the dragon's ability.

"It seems that I am able to see things differently with the ability. If my eyes can't keep up with something, Dragon Time allows me to speed up the rate at which they can see. This allows me to see your every move, Daxaur." Rai said, as he prepared himself to continue the battle.

"What do you call this ability of yours?"

Rai wondered why he would ask that, but he also felt that it deserved some sort of name.

"Alright how about this," Rai said, looking Daxaur in his cold eyes. "Dragon Time: Accelerated Ocular Vision."

"One last thing dragon," Daxaur said, giving off a sense of confidence with those words.

Rai was curious, as to what the Ape Master had to say. Especially since a sly grin had begun to develop on the ape's face. Rai was sure that what he was about to hear from him was not going to be good.

"I noticed that your speed remains the same even with that attack, and I bet that even though your eyes can keep up with my movements. Your body cannot, meaning that if it can't keep up the ability is useless."

Rai was surprised that Daxaur was able to figure out the weakness of his ability so soon.

"Well then, that just means that I better be ready whenever you try attacking me." Rai said, as he activated his new ability, "Now then, let's see if you will able to hit me with it activated."

"Well you surely are weak then dragon. If you can only speed up the rate at which your eyes can see, then that ability is worthless. Let's see if your eyes can keep up with this." Daxaur said, as he disappeared again.

Rai saw frame by frame the direction in which Daxaur was traveling. Daxaur threw another punch at him, but Rai saw the punch coming at him. He ducked under it, and then jumped upwards aiming his fist towards Daxaur's chin. This time though, Daxaur was the one to dodge Rai's uppercut. He then lifted his left leg, and went for a kick directed at Rai's abdomen. Rai saw the attack coming, and used his wings to turn himself around. He stretched out both his hands in front of him and blocked the kick. Daxaur saw an opening in this; he grabbed a hold of Rai's tail and threw him against the wall.

As soon as his body made contact with the wall, Rai felt instant pain travel through his body. Daxaur looked on with satisfaction as he saw the dragon cringing in pain.

"I told you from the beginning you are worthless, Malefor should've killed you when he had the chance." Daxaur said, making his way over towards Rai.

Rai struggled to get to his feet. The dragon had taken too much damage from Daxaur. He could feel the pain, with each movement it travelled through his body. When he finally got to his feet he looked up, and noticed that Daxaur was looking down at him. He stood his ground, and decided that he would not back down from him.

"I will erase Malefor's mistake, this is the end for you Rai." Daxaur took a hold of his staff with both ends, and swung the top side towards Rai.

Rai looked on, as he waited for the staff to make contact with him. He had made his choice to fight Daxaur, and now he would have to face the consequence for his actions.

The blow was strong enough to destroy, the top room's walls on the west side of the tower. Cynder and her group, who were focused on dealing with the apes, heard the blow. The five of them looked up, and saw the destruction that was unfolding high up above. They could not quite see what was going on inside. They could only make out that a portion of the tower had been blown away.

"What's going on up there?" Flame asked in astonishment, as he took in the sight of the tower.

Cynder stared at the tower in concern.

_I hope his alright._

"How did you like that, Rai? You were an annoyance all those years ago, and you were an annoyance all the way to the end." Daxaur said, looking at the spot where Rai had once stood.

The spot was now empty. The only thing that could be seen was the result of Daxaur's attack. The wall had been blown off, and small ruble was falling down towards the bottom. The empty open area was letting out natural light. The outside revealed that the sun had begun to set. The mixture of yellow, orange, and red colors could be seen taking up the entire field of vision that Daxaur had opened up.

"It seems that sunset has just begun, and you purple dragon have made your decision." Daxaur said, addressing Spyro's unconscious body.

He slowly made his way over towards Spyro. He only had to deal with the purple dragon. Daxaur had taken no more than a couple of steps, when his ears picked up a noise. The sound was coming from behind him. He turned around, and saw that a small pile of ruble was moving. He watched on as a grayish figure crawled its way out of the ruble. He immediately recognized the figure as Rai. He had somehow survived Daxaur's attack.

"Sill alive I see, you truly are a stubborn dragon." Daxaur said, preparing himself to once again take on the dragon.

"I told you, I can see your every move. Avoiding that attack was easy, once I had gotten some energy back." Rai replied, as he prepared to continue the fight.

This time both fighters rushed at each other. Daxaur was once again holding his staff with both hands. He was determined to not miss again. Rai on the other hand was making a fist with his left paw. As both of them got within inches of each other Rai jumped in the air. Daxaur swung his staff with all his might, but just as he did. He noticed something peculiar about the dragon's left paw. It seemed to have been flashing rapidly. It was then that he realized what it was, and in fear he tried to stop his own attack. It was too late; his attack was already in full swing.

"You know what this is, don't you?" Rai asked. He brought his fist forward revealing, that it was flashing a white bluish color. Each time it flashed it would let out a small pulse of lighting. "This is my attack Lighting Element: Lightning Punch."

He threw his fist at Daxaur's incoming staff. His punch managed to strike the white orb that had been sitting on top of the staff. The force from Rai's punch was immensely strong. So strong that not only was it matching with Daxaur's, but it was breaking the orb. Cracks began appearing all over the orb, until one final crack appeared right in the middle of it. That was all it took for the orb to shatter into small fragments, each fell towards the ground. Daxaur looked on in horror as his source of power was destroyed.

"This can't be happening." Daxaur let out in anger.

Rai's fist continued on towards Daxaur's head, but thankfully for Daxaur it had lost the amplified lighting attribute. It was now only a regular fist, but he knew it would still hurt. He braced himself for the incoming attack. Rai's fist made contact with Daxaur's cheek, and the force immediately sent Daxaur back a couple of feet. The ape landed on his back, taking in what had just happened to him. Rai stood firmly on the ground panting heavily from the loss of energy.

"How did you know?" Daxaur asked, raising his voice. "How did you know about the only weakness it had!"

"Easy…without his help." Rai said, pointing at Spyro. "It would have been impossible for me to figure it out. I noticed that you decided to dodge two of Spyro's attacks. One was when he tried tackling you covered in fire. The other was when he ran at you inside an orb made out of earth. I wondered why you didn't absorb those two attacks. What could possibly be different about them that would make you doge and not absorb his attacks. Then I figured it out, you can't absorb physical attacks. Because those attacks in one way, or another combine with the body. That's how I managed to find your weakness, and destroy that orb."

"It was all because of that purple dragon. He didn't just come at me randomly for any apparent reason. It was so that you could find out my weaknesses." Daxaur was infuriated that he had been outmatched by two dragons.

He wanted to find out a way to get back at those dragons. It was then that an evil smile spread across his face. While lying on the ground he had noticed that Spyro was a couple of feet behind him. Rai on the other hand was a couple of feet in front of him. He moved his paws around, and began searching for his staff. He felt something cold and metallic rub against his fingers. He made his way back over to that area, and felt the object. He knew he had found his staff, and luckily for him the dragon hadn't noticed anything.

"I wonder dragon how much energy have you exerted. Would you still be able to push your body further?" Daxaur calmly asked Rai.

"What are you talking about, Daxaur?" Rai responded.

"There is no way that you could safely stop an attack meant for Spyro." Daxaur took hold of his staff and pointed the sharp end towards Spyro. "Will you be able to save him, Rai?"

"No wait don't do it Daxaur." Rai pleaded, as he took off flying towards Spyro.

Just as he did Daxaur threw his spear at Spyro. The only thing that remained to be seen is what would make it there first Rai, or Daxaur's staff.

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><p><strong>(AN): Please read and review.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.**

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><p>"How many apes are there?" Flame asked out loud.<p>

"It doesn't matter how many, Flame. The way I see it this is payback for all the years of torture they gave us." Blaze responded, as he proceeded to burn up a couple of apes in front of him.

"Just continue fighting guys." Cynder said, "We are almost done here just a couple more." Cynder then felt a strange feeling coming from the tower. She could not quite tell what it was, but to her it felt like something terrible had just happened up there.

"What's wrong, Cynder?" Blaire asked, she had noticed that Cynder looked uncomfortable.

"Nothing, I'm just feeling a little bit overwhelmed that's all." Cynder lied. She was trying to hide her emotions from the group.

_Please both of you make it out alive._

"Ah, my head it hurts. What happened? The last think I remember was being hit by Daxaur's lighting." Spyro said, as he awoke.

He sat up and rubbed his head, so that he could try and relieve some of the pain. He then opened his eyes, and what he saw in front of him surprised him. It was Rai, and in front of him was a kneeling Daxaur.

"What happened, Rai?" Spyro asked, not understanding the situation.

"I told you from the beginning that you would be nothing, but a nuisance to me." Rai struggled, letting the words out from his mouth. "You refused to leave, and we ended up facing him together. Now look at yourself, you don't even know what the current situation is."

"Why are you acting like this? Come on tell me what happened."

Spyro then saw his brother's body fall towards him. He stood up, and caught Rai, before his body hit the ground. Then to Spyro's horror he realized what was wrong. This was the first time he had seen the front of Rai's body. The staff that had been sent flying had pierced Rai on the right side of his chest. Blood was gushing out of his body, staining any scale it passed by with a chrisom red like color. His jaw was also stained with that color. Thanks to all the blood he had been coughing out.

Spyro then noticed that Rai's right paw was holding onto the staff. He had stopped the staff from going all the way through him. It only traveled halfway into his body. He realized that Rai's eyes where losing their color. His brother's life was fading right before him. Spyro took a hold of Rai, and held him closer to him.

"Why did you do this for me? If I was such a nuisance, then why did you give your life for me?" Spyro said, sorrow could be heard in his voice.

"I don't know my body just moved, something just told me that I had to save you." Rai said weakly.

"But I thought that you hated me." Spyro responded.

"I could never hate the person, who gave me another chance at life. Plus it's the older brother's job to protect his younger sibling." Rai said, smiling at Spyro.

This greatly surprised Spyro. Never had Rai shown such emotions towards him. It only made Spyro more depressed about the current situation.

"Brother?" Spyro spoke the same word. He let it echo through his head trying to let it sooth his grieving heart. It only ended up bringing tears to Spyro's eyes.

"Don't cry, Spyro." Rai told him, "You need to be strong for Cynder; it's up to you to take care of her. Be there when she needs you Spyro, and don't let anything happen to her."

"We can take care of her together, Rai. You're stronger than this I know you are." Spyro said, as he somehow felt that pleading would let his brother survive this ordeal.

Rai smiled, and used what little strength he had left to stretch out his paw. He placed it over Spyro's head, and patted him between his horns.

"You're strong Spyro. You saved the world from Malefor. I know you will be able to overcome any obstacle that comes your way. I only ask one thing of you." Rai's hand began to fall from Spyro's head.

"Do not fail those, whom you care for."

Rai's hand hit the ground. Spyro could feel the life escape his brother. He gently placed him on the ground. He stood up, and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"Don't worry, Rai. I won't fail them, and that goes for you as well."

The purple dragon then stepped forth towards, Daxaur. Who was looking at Rai's lifeless body, he was satisfied with his accomplishment. He stood up, and prepared to take on the purple dragon in front of him. Without his staff the battle would prove to me more difficult, but that was alright. Because he still had a few tricks up his sleeve. He stared at the purple dragon, as he came ever closer towards him. The purple dragon then came to a stop once he was in front of Daxaur.

"You, you're going to beat me?" Daxaur let out a small chuckle.

"No, I'm going to kill you." Spyro angrily replied, as a wave of anger surged through his body.

"I'd like to see you try dragon." He said, while taking a hold of two swords strapped onto his back.

Both creatures rushed at each other. Daxaur swung his sword at Spyro, who rolled out of the way in time. He quickly spun around, and used his ice breath to freeze one of the swords. Spyro swung his tail at the frozen sword. It instantly shattered into tiny pieces from the impact. Daxaur roared in anger as he witnessed the destruction of his sword. He then tried to catch the dragon of guard by swinging his other sword at him. Spyro saw this coming, and easily avoided it by flying over it. Just as he did with the first sword Spyro froze it, and then smashed it with his tail. He then landed back on the ground waiting for Daxaur to make his next move.

"Without that staff your nothing, Daxaur. Gaul was more of a challenge then you are. And you're supposed to be his successor?" Spyro mocked the ape in front of him.

Daxaur was now growing frustrated. His attempts at defeating the dragon had proven hopeless. He did not want to admit it, but the dragon was right. Without his staff, he was not as strong. He could not take the thought of losing to this dragon anymore. He rushed towards Spyro in one last ditch effort to defeat him. Spyro saw him coming, and decided to fly at full speed towards him.

"This is the end for you dragon!" Daxaur roared out. He took out one last blade that he had hidden from Spyro, and directed it towards the purple dragon.

Spyro saw the blade at the last second, and just before if made contact with him he ducked under it. Even with that last effort from Spyro. The blade made contact with Spyro's left hind leg. It pierced into his leg, and slashed out of it. A trail of blood was left, showing the path that the blade had taken. Spyro cringed at the pain coming from his leg, but pushed forth. The purple dragon stuck his horns out, and flew towards Daxaur's abdomen. He used the force he had acquired from flying to shove his horns into Daxaur. The set of horns pierced Daxaur's armor, and made their way into the ape's insides.

Daxaur instantly felt a sharp pain travel through his body. He looked down in horror, and realized that the purple dragon was the source of his pain. He saw that the dragon had shoved his horns into him. Spyro brought his horns out of Daxaur, revealing that they were stained with his blood. Daxaur felt his blood sliding out of his body, and down towards the ground. He knew the dragon in front of him had bested him. He fell backwards towards the ground. His enormous body shook the ground beneath him.

"What are you waiting for, dragon? You've beaten me, so now take my life." Daxaur demanded that his life be taken by the dragon.

Spyro limped his way over towards him. His hind leg was injured, and needed to use the other three to help him move. When he finally arrived, he was face to face with his opponent.

"I should...I should end your life right now. But it isn't what I should do. You might have killed someone I cared about, but that is no excuse to take your life. No one is above taking another creature's life. Not even me." Spyro said, looking down at his defeated opponent. He could not help, but feel sympathy for the creature in front of him.

"To think that you show mercy, even towards someone like me." Daxaur said, as he felt himself lose consciousness. "You truly are a compassionate one, dragon." Daxaur felt his energy deplete, and fell into unconsciousness.

Spyro stared at the ape that had caused him so much pain.

"I hated the things that you did, Daxaur. But in the end I could not help feeling pity towards you."

Spyro stepped away from, Daxaur. He made sure not to put any weight on his injured leg. He looked outside, and noticed that the moon was now visible. He had not realized that night had already fallen. He then made out five figures approaching the inside of the tower. He quickly recognized them as Cynder, and the dragons who had been enslaved. He was relieved to know that they were alright.

Cynder ran over towards Spyro followed by the rest of the group. She walked up to Spyro, and rubbed her head against his. The rest of the dragons came up towards Spyro, and realized that he had taken quite a beating. Not only did they notice most of his body was scratched, but that his hind leg had been stabbed. Ember was the first one to point out that Spyro needed to be healed.

"Spyro, with all those injuries you should let me heal you." She said, worried about Spyro's condition.

It was then that Spyro remembered what Ember was capable of. She could heal other creature's wounds thanks to the element she had been born with. Spyro realized that there was still a way to save his brother's life.

"It's not me who you should be worried about. Come on follow me." Spyro took the dragons across the room, and towards a lifeless curled up body.

Cynder immediately knew who it was. The other four had no idea who the fallen dragon was. Spyro took Ember over to his brother.

"Do you think that you could heal him?" Spyro asked, wanting her to try, and save his brother's life.

"If he still has a beating heart I can, but if he doesn't it is impossible." Ember answered him.

"Please just try." Cynder said, she was trying to hold back any tears from forming. Just staring at Rai's injured body was enough to make her think the worst.

Spyro lowered his head onto his brother's chest. He made sure to avoid the staff that stuck out of from him. He waited a couple of seconds, and heard a beat coming from Rai's body. His brother was still alive.

"He has a beating heart." Spyro said, joyfully.

"Ok then first things first, if this dragon is going to be healed. We need to take out that staff from his chest." Ember gave instruction to Spyro.

The purple dragon did as he was told. He took hold of the staff, and gently brought it out of Rai's body. As soon as he did that he saw Ember breath onto him what seemed like a reddish kind of powder. He then witnessed the powder sink into Rai's body. Right before his eyes all his wounds were healing. Every wound he had received in battle had been completely healed.

"Alight he should regain consciousness in a few minutes. Meanwhile let me heal the rest of you." Ember said, as she made her way over towards the group.

Ember had finished healing everybody else, and now she made her way over towards, Spyro, who was announcing what they were going to do next.

"Now that Daxaur has been defeated, Cynder and I would like it if you guys came to Warfang with us." Spyro said.

"What's Warfang?" Blaze responded.

"It's where we are currently residing along with the dragon guardians." Cynder answered his question.

"We would really like it if guys came there to live with us." Spyro added.

The four dragons looked at each other, as if they were trying to decide what to do. Flame stepped forward and spoke for his fellow comrades.

"We gladly accept the offer." Flame replied, with a smile across his face. The dragons behind him could also be seen with smiles on their faces.

"What happened?" Rai asked, getting up from the ground.

Everyone looked towards the side, and noticed that the light grey dragon had regained consciousness. Spyro and Cynder made their way over towards him. Rai saw, Spyro and Cynder coming towards him. He looked around and noticed that Daxaur was lying on the floor surrounded by his own blood.

"Did you beat him, Spyro?" Rai asked.

"No, we beat him. I would not have been able to beat him without you Rai." Spyro replied.

"That may be true, but it was you who dealt the finishing blow." Rai said, patting Spyro on the back for his accomplishment.

"I'm so glad you're alive." Cynder said, stepping in front of Rai.

"And I'm glad nothing happened to you." Rai responded.

Cynder then stepped forth, and embraced both dragons in a hug. She wrapped her wings around them.

"Don't ever scare me like that again, alright?" She told them.

Both dragons nodded in agreement. Cynder released them, and the three of them made their way over towards the dragons they had rescued. The four dragons watched as the trio made their way over towards them.

"Alright guys as you know there were three of us who came here. You guys already know me and Cynder, but you don't know the dragon next to me. His name is Rai, and he's my brother. Rai this are the four dragons we rescued. The one on the right is named Ember; she's the one who healed you. The one in back of her is Blaire, and next to her is Blaze. The one on the left is named Flame." Spyro said, introducing them to each other.

Blaire stepped forth, and decided to ask what they were going to ask next.

"So what do we do now?"

"We're going back to Warfang, so that we can report what happened here to the guardians." Spyro responded.

The dragons opened up their wings, and followed. Spyro, Cynder, and Rai flew up ahead leading the others towards Warfang. Flame and Ember flew after them. The only dragons that remained were Blaze and Blaire.

"What's on your mind, Blaze?" Blaire asked.

"I have this strange feeling about Rai." Blaze responded.

"What kind of strange feeling?"

"I don't know, I guess I'll just have to keep an eye on him." Blaze said.

"Well don't go starting any fight with him Blaze. You know how you can get." Blaire said, flying off into the sky. Blaze followed behind her.

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><p><strong>(AN): Please read and review.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.**

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><p>The dragons flew through the night, and arrived at Warfang just as the sun was coming up. The guardians had been there to greet the group upon their arrival. They showed the dragons who had been enslaved in the tower to their new rooms. They then took the three dragons that had been sent to look for them into a large room. There Spyro explained what happened on the mission to the guardians.<p>

"Then after Daxaur was defeated we brought the four dragons that we had rescued here." Spyro said, finishing his explanation.

"I guess as long as the three of you made it out safely. I see no reason to punish you for disobeying us, but next time try and follow our orders." Cyril said, addressing the dragons.

"We just want to know one more thing." Terrador said, stepping forth. "Rai, what happened during the time that Spyro was unconscious? We want to know how you where able to keep up with Daxaur's movements."

Rai looked at the guardians who were waiting for him to answer. He was reluctant at first, but decided to tell them how he was able to see Daxaur's movements. Maybe they would be able to tell him why he had that kind of ability.

"Somehow during the battle I activated the Dragon Time ability," Rai said. He wasn't sure how they would all react.

They were all quite surprised by his statement. The ability could only be used by a purple dragon. So the guardians were shocked when Rai told them this.

"I could only increase the rate at which my eyes saw his movements, but I couldn't slow down his physical body." Rai finished his explanation.

"It is unusual for someone that isn't a purple dragon to use that ability. If you can truly use it then there is something truly strange about you." Cyril said.

"I want to know why I am able to do the things that I am able to do. But most importantly I want to learn how to control them." Rai said, getting frustrated from the fact that he couldn't quite control his powers.

"If that's truly the way you feel about your powers, then you could always train. We could send you to a dragon temple located in the north." Terrador replied, he noticed that the three young dragons were confused by what he had just said.

"Terrador, I thought that there was only one dragon temple. So are there more of them?" Spyro questioned.

"Well you see there were originally plenty of dragon temples. Young dragons would attend the one that most fulfilled their needs. Older dragons would teach the younger ones how to control their elements. There were many back then, but after Malefor took power most of them were annihilated."

"So how was the northern temple able to survive Malefor's rampage?" Cynder questioned.

"It all had to do with the kind of temple it was. Several temples were only created for the purpose of teaching a specific element. Only two were ever created for a different purpose. Spyro, the one you stayed at was specifically created for a purple dragon. At that temple the current purple dragon was taught how to use the four elements. The northern temple was used to train dragons with stronger and abnormal versions of the original eight elements," Terrador said.

"So just like Rai, they can use stronger versions of elements?" Spyro questioned.

"Yes," Cyril replied, "that is the reason they were able to fend off Malefor in the first place. We asked for their help in defeating Malefor, but to our surprise they refused. They said that Malefor was of no concern to them, and that the war was of little concern to them. My guess is that after seeing their masters killed by Malefor's army. They wanted nothing more to do with the war. I don't know how many of the original students stayed. Some of them left, while others stayed and perfected their abilities."

"Why do I have to go? Can't Volteer just train me? After all electricity is the main element that lighting branches off of." Rai was asking them, he did not like the idea of living his friends behind to go train somewhere.

"I wouldn't be able to teach you how to control your element, Rai. Electricity travels through the body, and slowly charges up. From seeing you use it lighting works quite differently. My guess is that instead of charging through the body it charges upon usage. In other words when you are about to release the attack, you can choose to make it stronger by charging it. Unlike electricity, lighting is pure raw energy that only the user can fully understand. The way the two of them work is similar, but at the same time lighting is more complex." Volteer explained, he felt a bit disheartened not being able to help Rai.

"That is why you must go to the northern dragon temple. There they will help you understand how your element works. Eventually you will be able to control it." Terrador added.

"But will I be able to master it." Rai said.

"Mastery of an element takes a great deal of time. You're only going to be over there for a while. But I would like to ask why the sudden interest in this?" Terrador asked, he found it unusual for a dragon to try, and master their element at such an early age.

"When Spyro and I fought against Daxaur. He used attacks that could only be used once an element had been mastered. He completely overpowered the two of us with those attacks." Rai said, after the battle against Daxaur he had been left feeling weak, and wanted to get stronger.

"It is true that upon mastering an element you gain access to high level attacks and techniques. But you do not have to be a master to learn, or create new attacks. If you train hard enough you will eventually be able to learn, or create something new," Cyril said. He had hoped that his explanation would be enough to satisfy the young dragon. "So would you be willing to go to the northern dragon temple."

"How long will I be staying over there?" Rai asked.

"We do not know the amount, but once we think it has been long enough. We will send someone to retrieve you." Terrador replied.

"This training better make me stronger. It would be a total waste of time if nothing changes. So while I'm going to go out and train. What is everybody else around here going to be doing?"

"While you're learning how to control your element. Spyro will be teaching the newly arrived dragons how to control their fire element, and at the same time he and Cynder will be training with us. We will be teaching the two of you how to strengthen your elements." Cyril said, addressing Spyro and Cynder.

"Rai, you will leave at sunset. That should give you plenty of time to say your farewells." Volteer said, before leaving the room with the other guardians.

"Alright guys lets go visit Flame and his group." Spyro said, leading Cynder and Rai towards them.

"Rai, will you be alright traveling to the temple on your own?" Cynder asked him. She feared for his safety.

"I've been alone all my life up until I met you two. I know that I'll be able to make it there in one piece. The only thing that bothers me is that you two won't be there." Rai answered her. He could tell by just looking at her that she was worried about him.

"The guardians should let you train with us," Cynder said. She wanted him to be close to her.

"I'm sure that the guardians would understand if you decided to stay here." Spyro said, getting in on the conversation.

"They probably would, but the thing is I want to become stronger. You know what I'll just tell them at sunset what my decision ends up being. That way the two of you can try and convince me to stay." Rai said, giving them a chance to make him stay.

"How about it Cynder, we have until sunset to convince him to stay." Spyro said, looking at the black dragoness.

"Yea, alright I can agree to that." Cynder said, forcing a smile. She hated the idea of Rai leaving, but at the same time he had given them a chance to make him stay. She looked towards the two dragons in front of her.

_I need both of you in my life. I can't help, but think how my life would be without one of you in it. _Cynder thought to herself.

The trio arrived at the corridor that Flame and his group were assigned to. They continued to walk looking for any signs of the other dragons. They were amazed at how the corridor had been decorated. Each wooden door had been polished, so they could glisten in the sunlight. The brownish walls were a bit cracked, a sign of how much damage the city had taken from the war. Spyro heard a faint noise coming from one of the rooms. He knocked on the door of the room that he was certain the sound came from. Slowly the room opened revealing a red orange dragon.

"Oh, hey guys," Flame said, greeting the three dragons.

"Hey Flame, do you know where the others are at?" Spyro asked.

"Yea, they're outside waiting for me. We were going to go out and explore the city."

"Would you mine taking us to them?" Spyro asked.

"Not at all," Flame said.

He led the trio outside of the building, and into the open streets. They found Blaze, Blaire, and Ember waiting for them over by a small building.

"Alright now that I have everyone together, I can finally check up on how all of you have been doing." Spyro said, wanting to know if they had been having a good time.

"I think I speak for all of us Spyro, when I say that we are truly thankful for what you have given us." Ember replied, thanking the dragon on behalf of everyone.

"She doesn't speak for me." Blaze whispered under his breath arrogantly.

Blaire, overheard him expressing his feelings, and smacked him on the back of his head with her tail.

"Ouch, what was that for?" Blaze asked her, rubbing the back of his head with his paw.

"It was to teach you some manners. I don't know what you have against Spyro, but he rescued us from that tower so show some gratitude."

Blaze, did not reply back. He knew she had a point, and responding back with something would only end up making him look like a fool. The reason why he was so hesitant to accept, Spyro, as a friend was because he was jealous. Blaze, felt it was his responsibility to get them out of that tower. To see another dragon get them their freedom back in under a day, made the fire dragon's blood boil. Still deep inside he did feel a sense of gratitude for the purple dragon. Though, it would take some time to surface.

"The reason why I wanted to see all of you again," Spyro said, continuing to speak. "Is because, I am here to talk to the four of you about your upcoming training."

"What kind of training," Flame questioned.

"Well three of you have fire as an element, and since there is no current fire guardian to teach you how to control it. I am going to be your teacher." Spyro said enthusiastically.

Flame and Blaire, seemed to have had no problem, with what had just been said. Blaze, on the other hand seemed a little reluctant about the idea. He stared at the concrete pavement below him, before looking up. He decided that it was worth a shot learning from him. If anything it might improve his relationship with Spyro. He turned towards Spyro, and nodded giving his approval.

"Spyro, would you mind showing us around the city?" Ember questioned, wanting the purple dragon to show them around.

"Yea, I have no problem with that. Just let me speak to these two in private for a moment." Spyro said, referring to Cynder and Rai.

He led the two dragons back into the main building. This way they could have some privacy, and not let the others hear what their conversation was about. Spyro turned around so that he could face his brother.

"Yes," Rai said raising an eyebrow.

"You know that it is my duty, as the purple dragon, to make sure that they know their way around the city. So I won't get another chance at convincing you to stay other then this one. It has only been a couple of days since we met, but I'm sure that you can feel it as well. We have a special connection, you and I. We have the bond that two brothers have, and no matter what your decision is I will support it." Spyro said, smiling at him.

"Spyro, just know that even if I do decide to leave and train outside of the city. That you will always be with me, and that I will always be with you." Rai said, feeling somewhat emotional.

"Alright then I leave the rest to you, Cynder. I guess I'll await your decision at sunset, Rai." Spyro said, leaving the two dragons behind, and heading off towards Flame's group.

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><p><strong>AN): Please Read and Review.  
><strong>


	11. Chapter 11

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.**

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><p>"Follow me, Rai." Cynder addressed him.<p>

Rai, did as he was told and followed the black dragoness. It appeared as if she was taking him to a part of the building that he did not recognize. She led him up a staircase. He found it unusual that, Cynder was leading him through all this. After all they were only going to have a normal conversation. So there was no need for her to do this. Rai soon found himself following her through a corridor that led outside. As they exited the corridor he found that they where at the very top of the building.

The two dragons had arrived at a balcony that overlooked the entire city. The balcony was colored a soft white. The railing stretched out across the large balcony, which had a smooth like texture to it. It also had some strange designs embedded in it, which seemed to separate in different patterns. At each edge of the railing a statue of a small dragon could be seen resting on top. Rai followed Cynder, to the middle of the balcony.

"So, why are we out here?" Rai questioned, kneeling against the railing.

"You know why, Rai." Cynder responded, looking out towards the horizon.

"The two of you really don't want me to go, but why is that?"

"It's because we care about you. Spyro and I don't want anything to happen to you. You just came back into my life again, and for you to leave again so suddenly is heartbreaking for me." Cynder said, getting even more depressed than she already was.

"Even if I do end up living, Spyro will always be around for you. The guardians also said that it wouldn't be that long. So, before you know it I'll be back, and ready to help you guys again." Rai said, trying to help make Cynder feel better.

"But who are you doing this for, Rai? Are you doing it for us, or for yourself?" Cynder questioned, getting serious.

"Believe me Cynder, that if I do decide to go train. The sole reason that I am doing it is for you two. I don't want anything to happen to the two of you. I will do anything to make sure that I am able to protect the two of you."

"But would you truly choose power over me…Uh, I mean Spyro and me?" She said, quickly trying to cover up what she truly meant to ask.

"I can't give you an answer to that," He said, looking into her emerald eyes. "Because my intentions for seeking power might not be what you think they are. You might see them as negative, while I see them as a source of hope."

"Alright, it you have truly made up your mind, I guess that there is no stopping you. So, I want you to have this," Cynder said, removing the silver bracelet off of her right arm. "With this you will always have something to remember me by." She said handing the bracelet over to, Rai.

"Thanks," he said, receiving the bracelet from her. "You really didn't have to give me this though. Just knowing that you're alright is enough for me." Rai said, attaching the bracelet to his arm.

He examined the bracelet on his arm, and saw that it was shimmering. His image could easily be seen on the bracelets metallic surface. The most unusual feature about the bracelet was that it somehow reminded him about his past. But at the same time it gave him hope for the future.

"I know, but this way you will always have something physical to hold on to." Cynder responded.

"I think we should head out to the main entrance. The sun is starting to set, and the guardians will be awaiting my decision." Rai said.

"I guess," Cynder said.

She and Rai flew from the balcony all the way to the main gate. They passed by half of the city on their way towards it. As they made it closer to the gate, Rai could make out some figures on the ground. He could see that the guardians were already there, and Spyro's group was just arriving. The two dragons flew down towards the gate, and as they got closer. They decided to open up their wings to soften the landing. The two landed on the hard concrete floor. Cynder made her way over towards, Spyro. While Rai made his way over towards the Guardians, to tell them what his decision was.

"So, will you go out and train with the other dragons?" Cyril asked him.

"As much as I hate leaving my friends behind like this, I will go to the northern temple." Rai said, hoping that he would not regret his decision.

"Okay, Rai we will now give you sometime to say your farewells." Volteer said.

Rai made his way over towards Spyro, to say his farewell to him first.

"I guess I'll be seeing you soon, Spyro" Rai said, sticking out his paw towards Spyro.

"Yea and when you come back," Spyro said, grabbing a hold of Rai's paw and shaking it. "We can see which of us has improved the most." He smiled at his brother.

Rai then made his way over towards Cynder, who immediately hugged him.

"I'll comeback soon Cynder, you have Spyro here to comfort you. You didn't need me around when the two of you went up against Malefor, right? That's because he was always looking after you, and you did the same for him."

"Just come back the same way that you're leaving." Cynder said, with tears beginning to form in her eyes.

She released her hold on Rai, and made her way over towards Spyro. He was also upset at the fact that it would be some time before he met his brother again. Spyro knew though, that he would have to be strong for Cynder. So, he waved his paw at his brother, and tried his hardest to put on a smile. Cynder began crying on Spyro's shoulder as she saw Rai step out of the city. The gates slowly closed behind him, sealing off the grey dragon from the city. He flew towards the sky and continued north. The sooner he completed his training, the sooner he would be with them again.

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><p>"Ugh, those damn dragons somehow defeated me." A defeated Daxaur said.<p>

He tried his hardest to stand back up on his two feet, but quickly fell back towards the ground. He had lost a large amount of blood, and was loosing even more by the second. The only thing that had kept him alive was the tightness of his armor. The tightness of it had slowed down the flow of his blood. Instead of loosing large quantities of blood within minutes, the armor prolonged them to small amounts. This way Daxaur was loosing only a small amount every hour, but now it was catching up with him. He had spent several hours being unconscious, and a couple more trying to regain his strength.

He decided to forget about getting to his feet, and to just move by crawling. He moved slowly trying to conserve whatever energy he had left. As he walked he felt a cold sticky liquid below his paws. He did not have to look down to know that the liquid was his own blood. He forced himself to crawl out of the blood pool he had created. He was making his way over towards the exit of his thrown room. Daxaur hoped that at least one of his soldiers was still around to tend to his wounds.

As he continued to crawl, he noticed something blocking his way. He felt the object in front of him with his paws, and realized that it felt scaly. He looked up knowing exactly what was in front of him. A large dragon about the same size as Malefor was overshadowing him. Daxaur immediately backed away from this dragon to have a better look at him.

The dragon had light green scales running from the tip of his snout to the tip of his tale. While his entire underside, was made up of sky blue scales. The tip of his tale had a curved like blade that looked like half a circle, with the edge being extremely sharp. He had horns sticking out of top sides of his head. He had one large light green horn on each side, and a smaller light blue one right behind it. The outside of his wings were also light green, and the insides were light blue. The edges of his wings were sharply pointed out in front of him.

"What's a judge doing here?" Daxaur asked fearfully.

"I'm here to collect something of yours." The dragon said, stepping towards Daxaur.

"I don't know what you're talking about. There is nothing here that could possibly be of interest to you." Daxaur said, forcing himself to stand straight up. He struggled to ignore the pain that traveled through his body.

"Don't push yourself now, Daxaur. After all, you just recently fought against two young dragons. How two weak dragons managed to defeat you is beyond me. Just goes to show, that no matter what a dragon will always be the more dominant creature." The light green dragon said, mocking Daxaur.

Daxaur could not take being ridiculed by the dragon. He clenched his fist, and pushed through the pain to move closer to the dragon. When he came into reach, Daxaur threw his fist towards the dragon's face. The light green dragon saw it coming and ducked under it. He casually walked behind Daxaur, and made his way over towards the blood stained blade. Daxaur stood still with his fist held out in front of him. His fist was in the same spot that the dragon's face would have been, if he had not avoided it.

"You know Daxaur, you brought this upon yourself. The minute that you disrespected a judge it was all over for you." The dragon said, as he curled his tail around the blade and picked it up.

Daxaur body spewed blood across the room. A deep cut could be seen across his chest. It went from his left shoulder to his right hip. Daxaur's lifeless body fell forward and collapsed on the ground.

"I only came for the blade, but you just couldn't wait to die could you. Now your faith is in our hands." He said, speaking to the lifeless body.

He then brought his tale forward to examine the blade he had picked up.

"So, this blade is stained with the purple dragon's blood." The dragon said, grinning slyly.

A large gust of wind entered the tower, and traveled towards the dragon. As it passed through him, the dragon began to disappear with the wind. Soon there was no trace of the dragon at all. The only thing left was the cool breeze of wind leaving the tower, and heading off towards the sky.

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><p><strong>AN): Please Read and Review.  
><strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
><strong>

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><p><em>One month later…<em>

"So, what do you think the guardians are going to tell us?" Spyro said, walking towards the Guardians' room.

"I don't know. It's probably about something that we have to do around the city." Cynder replied.

"It might be about our training. Maybe they are going to teach us something new." Spyro said, wondering what else they could possibly be taught by the Guardians.

"I think we've done enough of that, Spyro." Cynder said.

The two had spent most of their time with the guardians learning how to strengthen their elemental powers. While he was not training with the guardians, Spyro had another obligation to attend to. He would help Flame, Blaze, and Blaire learn how to better control their fire element. Since Ignitus had passed away, Spyro was in charge of teaching the three fire dragons. He taught them the basics that Ignitus had taught him, and some new lessons that he had acquired while training with the Guardians.

Sometimes Ember would join in and try to train with them. Even though she was not a fire dragon, she did not want to feel left out. Cynder would always watch Spyro from nearby, as he taught the dragons. She admired him for being modest and trustful. He risked his life to save the four of them, he had barely met them. Yet, he did everything he could to make sure that they could regain their freedom. Not because it was his duty, but because as a dragon it was the right thing to do. Just like the time he saved her from Malefor's grasp.

"Well here we are. Whatever they have to tell us we will soon find out." Spyro said, as he opened the door, and stepped into the Guardians' meeting room.

"A good the two of you have arrived." Terrador said, stepping forth to greet them.

"Is it only you, Terrador?" Cynder asked, wondering why the other two Guardians were not present.

"Yes, at the moment it is only me. I have sent Cyril and Volteer on a mission to locate an old friend."

"Do you think that was such a wise idea? Those two don't always get along." Spyro said.

"I am aware that they can get on each other's nerves, but when they are put in a serious situation they always come through."

"So, why did you want to meet with us?" Spyro said eagerly.

"The reason that I have called the two of you here is to tell you that your training is over. Before Cyril and Volteer left the three of us agreed that we have thought you enough material. What you do with the knowledge, skill, and strength you have acquired from us. Is now completely up to the two of you." Terrador said, informing the dragons that they have finished their training.

"So, does this mean that you will stop being our teachers?" Cynder asked.

"No, the two of you have simply finished learning the basics of you individual powers. Now you must learn how to master them, but of course we will still be there to help the two of you out."

"So, what should we do now if we're done with our training?" Spyro questioned, wanting to know what he was going to do next.

"That is the second reason I called the two of you here. What the two of you are to do now is go to the Northern Dragon Temple, and tell Rai to come back to Warfang."

Both dragons stood still for a few seconds. The sudden announcement that they were going to go retrieve their old teammate was a surprise. It brought joy to both of them that they were finally going to see him again.

"Alright we will leave immediately," Spyro said smiling. He could hardly contain his excitement. Spyro and Cynder both left the meeting room as fast as they could.

"Just be careful on your way over there!" Terrador shouted across the hallway.

As soon as the two dragons made it out of the building, they immediately opened up their wings and took off towards the sky. They headed off towards the north not knowing how long the trip would be. The two did not mind flying for hours as long as they met up with their friend again it was worth it.

"So, how do you think he will act once he sees us?" Cynder questioned.

"He will probably try to act all serious, and act like he isn't at all faced by seeing us again. Deep down though, he knows that he missed us just as much as we missed him." Spyro said, increasing his flying speed.

"I'm still a little bit upset at him for choosing to leave us behind like that." Cynder said.

"Try to think about it this way, Cynder, because he left our friendship grew stronger." Spyro said, smiling at her.

"Yea, that's one positive thing that came out of it." She said, smiling back at him.

Cynder flapped her wings faster in order to get in front of Spyro.

"Now let me show you something I learned." She said, rubbing Spyro's chin with the dull part of her tail blade.

She inhaled some of the air in front of them and then blew out. As she did the wind in front of them parted, and made its way behind them. The speed of the wind current increased, and began pushing the dragons forth. As Spyro flapped his wings he noticed that it became easier for him to fly. This was not the only thing that changed, the speed at which they were flying at also increased drastically. Spyro was amazed at what Cynder had learned to do.

"Wow Cynder, when did you learn to do this?" He asked her.

"It was during one of the days that you went off to teach Flame and his group. I wanted to go, and see you guys. But the guardians said that I should take the time to learn a new ability. They told me that wind dragons could use their element to split the air. They then explained to me, how I could use the air that pushed against my body when I flew to my advantage. Some days I would watch as you taught the dragons about fire. On other days I would train using wind, until I had learned how to use this ability." She said, as she continued to part the wind.

"That is amazing, Cynder." Spyro said, admiring her for her determination. "I never knew that you could do this with wind. Just goes to show how much of an amazing dragon you truly are."

She blushed from the complement that Spyro had given her.

"Thank you, Spyro." She said, with dark reddish scales.

With the increase in speed from the air current that Cynder had created. The two dragons were making it cross the land faster then they had imagined. They had only been flying for about an hour, and had already traveled a day's worth. At the rate that the two were going it was only a matter of time before they made it to their destination. The two then noticed something over the horizon that caught their attention.

"Do you see that?" Cynder asked, wondering what it could be.

"Yea, that might be it."

"It sure doesn't look like the old temple that the guardians occupied." Cynder said.

"It must be because this one was built to fit the nature of the student's elements. Just like Terrador said." Spyro said, following Cynder towards the temple.

The two flew down towards the temple, as soon as they stepped down on the ground. They felt a shift in the temperature. The whole time while they were flying it was warm, and as soon as they made contact with the floor it became cold. It was bearable, but they were confused on how it could be cold while the sun was out. When they were up in the air it was nice and warm. They decided to ignore this, and continued on towards the temple's entrance.

They looked at the ground ahead of them, it was lifeless. The grass that had covered the soil immediately stopped growing. The ground had all sorts of cracks running in different directions. The whole area surrounding the temple seemed deprived of any form of life. They soon encountered something else happening, but this time it was happening to them. Each step they took towards the temple was harder then the last. For some reason it was getting harder for them to walk. Each step they took seemed heavier then the last.

They then turned their heads towards the temple to examine it. Unlike the Dragon Temple that they had stayed at a couple years ago, this one was not as intact. Most of the temple's outer walls had crumbled from either old age, or from damage it had sustained. This let the inside of it visible, which was in no better condition then the outside. The temple's outside color was a faded brown. Spyro and Cynder decided to head in and look for their old friend.

The further in they went, the more compressed the corridor they walking in became. They figured that the cause of it was all the debris that had fallen from the temple's upper level. Many of the upper levels had also collapsed, and had fallen towards the lower ones. Spyro and Cynder decided to fly up towards a higher level. In hope of finding a floor that was not full with debris.

They flew to the very top of the temple until they came upon something that caught their attention. The middle of the temple had been completely destroyed. All that remained seemed to be some sort of large training field. They flew down towards it deciding that it was worth checking out. They slowly stepped back onto solid ground, and walked further into the field. They then began seeing something over the distance.

They saw what looked like three dragons. Two of those dragons were inside the crater, while the other was watching them from outside of it. Spyro and Cynder decided to keep on walking towards them. They once again felt their weight increasing as they continued on towards the crater. As Spyro and Cynder stepped closer to the area they could see the three dragons in full view.

The dragon that was sitting outside of the crater had copper like scales covering his whole body. The dragon had amber colored eyes that cautiously watched the two dragons inside the crater. His wings had a light brown outline with a pale membrane. The further end of his tail had a light brown color to it and it had a pointed tip. The dragon had two brownish horns going out from each side of his head that stuck up. From where they were standing he looked to be about half as tall as the Guardians.

They then looked down towards the crater and spotted another dragon. The dragon was about the same size as the one sitting patiently outside the crater. The dragon had dark blue scales covering most of his body. The outline of his wings had a blue toned color, and the membrane had a light blue color. He had light blue horns sticking out parallel from each side of his head. The dragon's tail tip had an arrow tip shape to it. The last distinguishing part about the dragon was that he had sapphire colored eyes.

They saw that the dark blue dragon was fighting against someone. From where they were standing they could not see the other dragon. So, the two of them made their way over towards the edge of the crater. They looked around for the other dragon that was engaged in battle. They spotted a dragon, which was smaller than the other two. In fact he was about the same size as them. They immediately figured out who the other dragon engaged in battle was.

Standing in the middle of the crater was Rai. He was panting heavily, and had a couple of scars around his body and face. Spyro and Cynder guessed that the two were training, but then their eyes caught a glimpse of Rai's left forearm. His arm had all sorts of cuts and scars over it. They could tell that Rai was in deep pain. What gave it away to them was that he was not using that arm to support his weight.

They saw him regain his posture, and move his left arm towards the ground. He made a fist with his arm, and gently made contact with the ground. Rai then surrounded his fist with lightning. The next thing that he did intrigued the two of them. He began to surround his right forearm with lightning as well, and then he grabbed a hold of his left forearm. He placed his right paw a little above his fist. They then starred at him as he stayed in that position for a few moments. To them it seemed as if he was not doing anything, but as a matter of fact he was. He was slowly transferring the lightning from his right hand over towards his left.

Once all the lightning had been transferred over, he lowered his right forearm back onto the ground. The lighting that had been transferred over had combined with the other lightning making it wild. The two had merged at Rai's left paw. His paw had become the source of the lightning, which was giving off large amounts of streaks of lightning throughout his left forearm. Rai began running off towards the dark blue dragon in front of him. He used three of his limbs to move, while his left forearm was being dragged across the floor.

Spyro and Cynder watched as Rai's attack infused arm tore up the ground beneath it. The lightning left a straight path of destroyed gravel and small amounts of rubble behind it. Once Rai saw that he was within hitting distance of the dragon. He prepared to launch his left forearm at the dragon. Just moving his arm forth was a difficult task for the dragon. Rai clenched his teeth, and ignored the pain coming from his arm. He pushed through the pain, and brought his arm out right in front of him.

Spyro and Cynder stared in amazement as Rai launched his attack at the dragon. The lightning had given his paw a bright white and blue color. The streaks of lightning continued to run up and off of his arm. His arm had now been brought out in front of him. He had each of his claws pointed out towards the dragon. It gave the sense that he was about to grab something from the dragon. Just as Rai was about to make contact with the dragon, Spyro and Cynder noticed that something was happening.

The lightning streaks that the attack had been producing were now gone. The lightning that was concentrated at his paw had grown more stable. It had lost the wild attribute it started off with, and had gone back to just pulsating. Rai knew that his attack was not acting the way it was supposed to. So he decided to concentrate the remaining lightning at his fist. He threw his fist towards the dark blue dragon hoping to make contact with him. As he was doing this, Rai noticed that the dragon was doing the same. Both of their fist collided with each other. The force from the collision sent a small shock wave across the crater.

"So, what was it that went wrong?" The dragon asked, lowering his forearm.

"I didn't keep a constant speed, and I was too slow." Rai responded lowering his head.

"It wasn't just that, but it seems that you are still struggling with controlling the flow of the lightning. You had it under control until you brought your arm forth. At that point you needed to redirect the flow of the lightning, but instead you kept it the same. This eventually led to you loosing all the lightning that had been transferred over."

"But we already figured out how my lightning element works. The lightning is always floating around in my body. I choose when I want to bring it forth and use it. So why can't I just charge up the attack without transferring lightning?" Rai questioned.

"I already told you why. You still can't control it that well, and it will take more than the time we have spent here for you to fully control it. By transferring the lightning from you right hand over towards your left. We are not only balancing out the flow, but also charging up the attack. This makes it easier on you body, and easier for you to develop the attack."

"Easier on my body," Rai said, bringing his left forearm forth. "Does this look like it has been easy on my body?" Rai said, showing the dark blue dragon the scratches and cuts on his arm.

"If we had been doing this the more advanced way, you would have had lost your arm by now." The dragon said in a serious tone.

"Then why am I training like this? Why is it that I have to train with the force of gravity much stronger than it usually is? It's so strong that it even made the ground give, and created this crater." Rai said, getting frustrated with his training.

The copper scaled dragon stood up and began speaking, "The reason that you are training at three times the normal force of gravity is simple. It is so that your speed and strength increase at the same time. But really it is so that your speed increases the added strength is just a bonus. All electric dragons are naturally fast, but you are special. You are a lightning dragon this means that you are capable of reaching speeds that none of us can even dream of reaching. This means that once you have truly mastered lightning you will be able to move at the speed of light."

"That's all pretty interesting, but I have spent most of my time here just learning the basics." Rai responded angrily.

"We have already thought you all the basics. That is why we are helping you create a new attack." The dark blue dragon said. "Which reminds me, take these." The dragon said, giving Rai red gems.

"Hey, Rai!"

**(A/N): I know that this took a long time to update. The reason for that is because I wanted to finish the story before posting chapters again. So as of right now I have the remaining chapters all typed up. All that remains is for me to proof read them. **


	13. Chapter 13

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
><strong>

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><p>Rai heard someone calling his name in the distance and immediately turned around. He was surprised by the two dragons he saw approaching him. It brought joy to him knowing that they had finally arrived to meet him again. Rai Then saw that they were about to enter the crater.<p>

"Don't come any closer," he yelled out.

Spyro and Cynder immediately stopped once they heard him. Rai was slowly making his way over towards the two of them. He would have gone faster, but the training had taken its toll on him. Rai made his way out of the crater, and was immediately greeted by a hug from Cynder.

"We missed you so much." She said, pulling away from him.

"It wasn't the same without you, Rai." Spyro said with a smile on his face.

"I missed the two of you as well." Rai replied.

"Who are these two dragons, Rai?" The copper colored dragon asked, stepping towards them.

"Yes, Rai we would like to know who your guests are." The other dragon said, stepping out of the crater.

"Sure, let me introduce the four of you to each other. Spyro and Cynder, these two dragons here are my teachers, Cyrus and Irus."

"Nice to meet you two my name is Cyrus." The dark blue dragon said.

"And mine is Irus," The copper dragon said.

"Are you two related?" Spyro asked.

"No, it just seems like we are because are names are similar, but that is purely coincidence." Irus answered.

"What were you three doing?" Cynder asked about the event that she and Spyro had just seen.

"I was trying to create a new attack." Rai replied.

"Wait so you already have full control over your lightning?" Spyro asked. He was a bit confused because the whole reason for Rai going away was to control his power.

"At first we did mainly focus on that, but once we figured out how lightning works. The three of us came to a conclusion that it would be better to just increase his strength and speed. We asked him to try and create a new attack that focused on the flow of the lightning." Cyrus explained.

"So what did the two of you do while I was gone?" Rai asked curiously.

"Well Cynder and I trained with the guardians to strengthen our elements, and I helped Flame and his groups learn how to control their fire element." Spyro responded.

"I wonder which one of us is stronger now." Rai said arrogantly.

"It is not all about power Rai, but what you choose to do with it. Plus right now you're injured it would not be a fair fight."

"It doesn't matter I can still fight." Rai said, stepping closer to Spyro.

"No he is right, but I do want to see which one of you is stronger. So I will be your opponent Spyro." Cyrus said, shocking everyone around him.

"I rather not," Spyro said nervously. "I don't want to disrespect Rai's teacher by engaging him in battle."

"It is quite alright, Spyro. Rai has never beaten me in battle, so if you beat me then it means that you are stronger than him." Cyrus said, staring slyly at Rai, who was staring back at him angrily.

"Fine I'll fight you." Spyro said, hoping that he would not regret his decision later on.

"All right let us start right now." Cyrus said, getting into his fighting stance.

"Wait right here?" Spyro questioned.

"Yes as soon as everyone gives us some space we can begin."

"Cyrus, do you want me to increase the force of gravity?" Irus asked.

"No just give Rai some red and green crystals. That way while Spyro and I are fighting he can regain his energy."

Irus walked away, and headed for another location on the large training field. He headed to an area where he could watch the fight without getting caught up in the action. Cynder and Rai, not wanting to get caught up in the action, followed the dragon. Once they were far enough from the three dragons, they sat down on the dried up earth. They waited patiently for the fight to begin.

"Here take these," Irus said. He handed Rai a handful of red and green crystals.

"I wonder how strong you truly are Spyro. You have the reputation of defeating Malefor and all of his subordinates." Cyrus said.

"Well your about to find out." Spyro replied.

"How true," Cyrus said.

Both dragons rushed at each other hoping to deliver the first blow to their opponent. Spyro got within arm's length of Cyrus, and threw a punch at him. Cyrus sidestepped out of the way, easily dodging it. He swept his tail at Spyro, who out of the corner of his eye saw it coming. He jumped towards Cyrus avoiding the attack. Spyro turned around in midair, swiping his tail at Cyrus. Spyro's tail was hastily approaching Cyrus, who had just seen the attack coming. Just as it was about to make contact with his head, Cyrus backed away from it. Spyro's tail missed him by less than an inch.

As Spyro landed back on the ground, he felt something heavy around the base of his tail. He turned around, and found that the first half of his tail had been frozen solid. Spyro turned his attention back towards Cyrus, and noticed that he was running towards him. As Cyrus was approaching him, Spyro rolled towards Cyrus's left side. He avoided the dragon, but then felt that another part of his body had grown heavy. He looked towards the source of the discomfort, and found his left hind leg frozen.

"That's two Spyro," Cyrus said. He looked at Spyro, who had taken the moment to look up at him. "Two of your body parts are frozen because of me. Soon your entire body will be frozen."

"I doubt that you will be able to do that, or have you forgotten that I possess four elements." Spyro said confidently.

Spyro turned his head towards the sky, and blew out fire. The fire came back down on Spyro and enveloped his body. Cyrus waited patiently for the dragon to step out of the fiery orb. Within a couple seconds, Spyro stepped out with no ice on his limbs.

"You enveloped yourself in fire in order to evaporate the ice. I have to say Spyro nice job, but wouldn't the fire had harmed you?" Cyrus asked.

"No, since I lowered the temperature of it just enough to make the ice melt. I actually thought that I needed to raise the temperature of the fire."

"He melted the ice that easily?" Rai said, shocked by what Spyro had just done.

"I guess Spyro just has the advantage by having fire as an element." Cynder said.

"But he did it so easily. Not once have I been able to that against him." Rai said, still in disbelief that Spyro was an even match for his teacher.

"It is because unlike you, Rai, Spyro actually has full control over his powers." Irus responded.

"Come on Spyro, you can beat him." Cynder shouted, hoping to give Spyro some inspiration.

"You up for one more attack?" Cyrus asked, as he began to fill his mouth with ice.

"Sure, I want to see which element will prevail." Spyro said, as he filled his mouth with fire.

"Ice element: Ice Ray!" Cyrus said, releasing his attack. A clear blue object left the dragons mouth, and headed towards Spyro. The attack was going in a straight line freezing the air that it was coming in contact with. Spyro held his ground and released his own attack.

"Fire element: Fire Spew!" The purple dragon called out, as he let a burst of fire escape his mouth. The Fire that escaped his mouth traveled in a straight line. Spyro dug his claws into the earth, so that the force of his attack would not push him back. Spyro's attack wildly released small flames sending them flying in different directions. The heat from Spyro's attack was intense enough that the three dragons watching from afar could feel it.

"He learned to control his elements that well. In a month he learned to do that, while in the same time it took him to strengthen his multiple elements that well. I can't even finish a simple attack. What's wrong with me?" Rai asked himself, pounding his fists on the ground out of frustration.

Cynder did not notice that Rai was acting out, because she was too busy cheering Spyro on. Irus was the only one that noticed his actions. He knew why the dragon was acting out, and would have to talk to him about it later.

Both attacks collided in the middle of the training field, increasing the power that both dragons were exerting. The ice was evaporating much faster than Cyrus had anticipated. It caused the dragon to increase the rate at which he was releasing the ice. If he let Spyro have any lead on him during the struggle, it would mean certain defeat. Spyro was also having his share of problems. He noticed that the ice was not evaporating as fast as it once was, and his fire was losing heat. He compensated for this by putting more fire into it, hoping that the increase in size would also increase the heat of the attack.

Spyro decided that he had tested out the dragon's strength long enough. He dug his claws deeper into the ground to prepare his next attack. Cyrus was too heavily concentrated on the battle to notice that his limbs were being covered by earth. The hard brownish substance traveled up towards his chest, and over to his face. Cyrus then felt something crawling over his face. He looked at his snout, and noticed that he was being covered up by earth. He tried to stop it from spreading by using his arms, but as he did he felt them covered in earth. He knew that they were also covered in earth, and began preparing for the worst as his mouth was enveloped by the earth.

The ice that had been coming out of his mouth had been sealed off. He was now unable to protect himself from Spyro's scorching fire. He waited for the attack to hit him, but to his surprise the fire had already evaporated. Cyrus had no idea how it had happened, until he saw that Spyro's area was covered in ice. He had guessed that Spyro had used his own ice breath to evaporate the fire. Spyro pounded his fist on the ground, crumbling the earth that had attached itself to Cyrus.

"You are a pretty admirable dragon, Spyro?" Cyrus said, stepping forth towards Spyro.

"I couldn't bring myself to harm someone, who only wanted to see the extent of my powers." Spyro replied.

"You did a great job, Spyro." Cynder said, arriving at the purple dragon's side. She began nuzzling Spyro caringly congratulating him on his victory.

"He actually did it, he beat him. He did something I have not even come close to doing on his first attempt." Rai said, not believing what he had just seen.

_Even worse it seems that those two have become even closer now. _He thought to himself.

"You should not let your emotions rule you like this, Rai. They will end up taking away everything you have, and I have seen the way you look at her. Cynder obviously only sees you as a friend the one she wants is Spyro. You should just be happy for them." Irus said, trying to calm him down.

Irus did not know if his words had helped the dragon or not. To him it seemed like they did, because when he had finished speaking. Rai flew over towards Spyro and congratulated him. Irus hoped that Rai would come to terms with his feelings soon.

* * *

><p>On the outskirts of the temple three dragons were calmly making their way towards the Northern Temple.<p>

"Are you sure that they are located there?" One of them asked.

"That's what I have been told. Just remember we are here under their request, we can't afford to fail the mission." The dragon said, as he flew towards the temple followed by his companions.


	14. Chapter 14

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
><strong>

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><p>Cyrus made his way over towards Irus, who had been watching his sparing match with Spyro. The copper dragon stood up from his spot so that he could converse with his companion.<p>

"So what do you think of Spyro?" Irus asked, wanting to know his thoughts on the purple dragon.

"He's the total opposite of his brother," Cyrus replied.

"Yea, I noticed that to," he said.

"Spyro has a kinder, gentler, and more caring personality than Rai does. He also seems to be more in control of his actions."

"On the other hand Rai's personality is more introverted. He seems to keep to himself most of the time." Irus added.

"When Spyro fights he holds back most of the time, and only uses his full power when needed. I also noticed that unlike Rai, he has better control over his elements." Cyrus said, as he finished explaining his observation of Spyro.

"Then let's…" Irus was caught off by something that caught his attention off on the distance, "What is that?"

"So you finally felt it," Cyrus said, as he began to walk back towards Spyro.

"When did you start feeling their presence?" Irus said, as he followed Cyrus.

"During my fight with Spyro, I sensed them out at the distance. From what I can tell there are three of them."

"You go on ahead; I'll stay here and wait for their arrival." Irus said, stopping in his tracks.

"Alright, I will take the three dragons and myself to a secure location." Cyrus said, as he ran off towards the dragons. "You three come with me," he said walking over to the dragons. "I have to get the three of you to a secure location."

"Why? What's wrong Cyrus?" Spyro asked.

"It seems that we are about to get some unexpected visitors."

"So why do we have to go and hide?" Rai asked, cutting off Cyrus.

"Because we do not know if they are enemies."

"So what? Even if they are I'm sure we could take them." Rai said, interrupting Cyrus again.

"That's not the point he's trying to make, Rai." Spyro said, stepping forth. "There is the possibility that they might be stronger, and even if they are there are other ways to handle it. We do not need to resort to violence. I suggest that we follow Cyrus, and see what happens after that."

Rai admitted defeat; he was going to have to go along with Cyrus.

"Alright, I'll go with you."

Cyrus turned around and led the three dragons deeper into the broken temple. Irus watched them from a far disappear into it. He waited patiently for the three mysterious figures to arrive at the temple. He felt their presence approaching, he began seeing their outline in the sky. From the looks of it there were three dragons approaching him. They began landing in front of him one by one. A dark red dragon that appeared to be their leader approached him.

"Is your name Irus or Cyrus?" the dragon asked.

"It is Irus."

"We finally located you" the dragon said, smiling slyly.

* * *

><p>Cyrus and the three dragons had arrived at a secluded room. It was simple in design, except for the small pool in the middle.<p>

"Is that what I think it is?" Spyro asked, stepping closer towards the center of the room.

"Yes, it is a vision pool. With it we can see what is happening outside of the temple." Cyrus said, stepping towards the pool.

"So we can see if the ones arriving are enemies?" Cynder asked, looking into the pool.

The four dragons stared into the cloudy pool. It began clearing up, showing four dragons talking on the lifeless field.

"So they were dragons," Rai stated.

"But the question is what do they want?" Cynder added.

They stared back into the pool, and saw that the three dragons were attacking Irus.

"Come on we have to go!" Rai said, making his way towards the exit.

Cyrus shot and ice ball in front of Rai, freezing the exit. Rai stared at the ice covered wall in front of him. Anger began rising within him.

"Why did you do that?" Rai asked angrily. "Can't you see that he needs our help?"

Cyrus ignored Rai; he stared back into the pool. Spyro and Cynder stared at the two of them. They too questioned the dragon's motive.

"Should we do something, Spyro?" Cynder questioned.

"No, we most respect his decision. He must have a reason for keeping us in here." Spyro whispered to Cynder.

_Besides I'm more interested in how he froze the exit so suddenly. He did not show that kind of control when we were testing our strength against each other. Was he holding back?_

"Let me out, Cyrus!" Rai shouted.

"If I let you go you'll only be heading towards your death. What makes you think that you can help him? You'll be more of a burden to him than anything."

"You're wrong I can help him."

"I've been meaning to tell you something for quite a while Rai." Cyrus said, stepping closer towards the young dragon. "And that is that you are weak. Out of the four of us in this room, you are the weakest."

"No, that's a lie. You don't know what I am capable of. I haven't showed you what I can really do." Rai said, backing away from the dragon.

"Whether that's true or not, has yet to be seen from you." Cyrus said, stepping back towards the pool. "If you truly believe that you can help. Then come and take a look at this."

Rai walked back towards the pool and took a look at the vision. He saw that Irus was being overpowered by the three dragons. He tried fighting back, but the dragons would not give him a chance to gain the slightest advantage. The three dragons slammed Irus into the ground, and then flew up towards the sky. They began charging their respective elements. As Irus stood back up, the three of them released the energy from their mouths. The attacks enveloped the copper colored dragon.

The four dragons stared at the vision in astonishment. The dust that had surrounded the field began to disappear. The three dragons landed back onto the field, and waited to see if they had won. The three saw a figure resembling a dragon walk out of the dust. He had wounds in several places of his body.

The three dragons took to their fighting stance again, and began charging at the dragon. The dragon took several more steps before collapsing on the ground. The three dragons stopped in their tracks. Irus's body started turning transparent. Knowing that their job was done, they whispered something to each other and took off in different directions. They began searching the temple individually.

"What's happening to him?" Cynder asked?

"I take it that this is the first time that the three of you have seen a dragon die." Cyrus said.

"He's dying?!" Spyro and Cynder said in unison.

A grim expression grew on Rai's face.

They stared back into the pool, and saw that Irus's wings were disappearing. They were turning into green sparkling dust that was flowing up towards the sky.

"I was told once that when a dragon dies, that their spirit binds itself with nature. So why is he disappearing like that?" Spyro asked.

"It's true that they bind themselves with nature, but that is only if they are allowed to." Cyrus saw confused expressions on Spyro and Cynder's faces. "Let me explain, you see every dragon most be judged for the sins that they have committed. Depending on the life that they lived they will either achieve nirvana by becoming one with nature."

"Or?" Cynder asked.

"A suitable punishment will be sentenced to them. The punishment will vary depending on how they lived their lives."

Irus's entire body turned into the green dust, until nothing was left of him. Rai watched as his teacher faded away. Irus was dead.

"Who delivers these punishments?" Spyro asked.

"The two of you do not need to worry about them." Cyrus said, stepping towards the frozen wall that he had created.

_Them_, Spyro thought, as he followed Cyrus.

Cyrus placed his paw against the frozen wall. It quickly turned into mist, revealing the exit.

"Are you coming or not." Cyrus said, directing the statement at Rai.

"How can you just walk away from this, your friend is dead. Yet, you show no remorse for him." Rai said, trying to control himself.

"He knew what he was getting himself into." He said, stepping out of the room. "The three of you stay here while I go look for them."

"As If," Rai said, flying out of the room in search of the dragons.

"Wait, Rai!" Spyro called out.

"Alright, I guess we're all going to go look for them." Cyrus said, directing his attention to the two remaining dragons. "Spyro, you and I will search for the other dragons. Cynder go after Rai, and make sure he doesn't do anything foolish."

The dragons each left the room, and flew off in different directions. Spyro flew out of the temple, and began his search outside. He flew around it, hoping that he would find a sign that they were around. He began descending back towards the ground, when he was suddenly tackled. He was thrown across the sky; it took him a moment to recover. When he did, Spyro saw that one of the dragons was in front of him. He noticed that it had green colored scales. Spyro guessed that it was an earth dragon.

"Well, well I never thought that I would find the purple dragon here." The dragon said, in a stern voice.

"Why did you kill that dragon?" Spyro asked.

"I do not have the authority to tell you this." The dragon responded.

"So you're working under someone." Spyro stated.

"You catch on quick dragon, but I have already said too much." The dragon said, taking a fighting stance. "But I will tell you that we were ordered to kill anyone we came across."

"Alright then," Spyro readied himself for the fight. "Before we begin may I ask you, your name?"

"I do not have one."

"What do you mean, you don't have one?" Spyro asked.

"I used to have one, but it was taken from me. It is my punishment for the sins that I have committed. But in exchange I received a second chance at life." He said, flying towards Spyro.

_Punishment? Cyrus said that dragons are punished for their crimes after death. Not only that, but this dragon said he received a second chance at life. What did he mean by that?  
><em>

* * *

><p>"Rai, wait up!" Cynder said, calling out to the grey dragon.<p>

He stopped at the sound of her voice, and made his way back towards the ground. Cynder made her way towards the ground as well. She looked around at the room that they were in. It was larger, and more intact than other parts of the temple. The walls looked sturdier as well. She guessed that this used to be the area where dragons came to train. She stopped her observance upon hearing Rai's laughter.

"It's funny how I feel so light now. I guess the affects have worn out now that he is dead. His powers made it so that he increased the weight of objects. He made me weigh heavier as part of my training. Unlike Cyrus, he actually helped me get stronger. He believed that I could actually do something."

"What happened isn't your fault, Rai." Cynder said, trying to cheer the dragon up.

"I know, and I also know that it's not Cyrus's. But we could have at least tried to help him; we could have done that much for him."

Cynder did not know how to calm Rai down. He was acting the same way that Spyro had, after Ignitus's death. She had known how to take care of Spyro, but Rai seemed more broken than angry.

"Come on Rai, let's go find Spyro and help him search for those dragons." She said, stepping closer to him.

"No, I want to be alone right now." Rai stepped away from Cynder.

"Just move on Rai, there is nothing that you can do to bring him back."

"You just don't get it. You don't know how it feels to watch someone you care about get hurt. How it feels to be right there, and not be able to do anything to help them. I know this all too well." He said, giving her a quick glance before looking back in front of him. "It makes a dragon feel worthless."

"Rai," she said in a sincere voice.

"I'll find them and make them pay for his death." He said angrily, before continuing to walk.

Cynder watched quietly as Rai began walking forward. From the corner of her eye, she saw a bright yellow object heading towards Rai.

"Look out," she yelled, jumping towards him.

She tackled Rai to the ground. The yellow object passed over them, and landed a few feet across from them. It damaged the stone floor, breaking it on impact.

"So you want to make us pay."

Cynder and Rai looked for the source of the voice. They found that it belonged to a bright yellow dragon that was flying above them.

"Well here's your chance." He said, flying down towards them.

* * *

><p>Cyrus was searching outside of the temple for one of the three dragons. He saw a red figure approach him from a distance. It was a dragon.<p>

"Why did you come here?" He asked.

"Follow me," the dragon said, heading towards the ground.

Cyrus followed the dragon, who took him down towards the field.

"What is it that you want?" He asked.

"I have a preposition for you, Cyrus."


	15. Chapter 15

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
><strong>

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><p>Spyro and the nameless dragon flew straight towards each other. The two collided with each other in the middle of the sky. The force from their collision sent the dragons flying back in opposite directions.<p>

"It seems that when it comes to strength we are equal purple dragon." The earth dragon said, regaining his composure.

"Alright then, let's see if there is a difference when it comes to elemental power." Spyro opened his maw releasing his fire breath onto his opponent

The spewing flames made their way towards the green dragon, increasing the temperature of the air as they got closer to their target. The green dragon sidestepped the flames, avoiding the full impact of the attack, but received a small burn on his chest from a flame that managed to make contact. He looked back towards Spyro, but discovered that the purple dragon was gone. He looked around franticly for the young dragon.

"Below you," Spyro said, grabbing the earth dragon by his tail and hurtling him towards the ground. The purple dragon immediately flew towards the dragon. The earth dragon regained control of his descending body, and opened up his wings before contact, shattering the bare ground beneath him as he made contact. Spyro used the momentum from the fall to throw a punch at the dragon.

The green earth dragon caught Spyro's punch, and proceeded to crush it in his paw. Spyro screamed in agony from the pain he was experiencing. The larger dragon proceeded to lift Spyro by his paw. He swung his own paw, hitting Spyro in the stomach. Spyro felt the pain move from his paw to his stomach. The green dragon let go of Spyro's paw, letting the purple dragon drop towards the ground.

"Where did you get this sudden burst of power from?" Spyro asked out loud.

"An earth dragon is naturally stronger when he is making contact with earth based material." He said, turning his back towards Spyro. "I thought that a purple dragon would have known that." The green dragon began walking away from Spyro.

_Terrador told me that once when he first trained me, but I never paid much attention to it. He said I had to take in the energy radiating from the planet itself. To think it increases your strength by this much._ He thought to himself. "Hey where are you going?" The purple dragon asked, refocusing on the battle. "We're not done yet."

"You might not be, but I am." The dragon turned backtowards Spyro. "I was ordered to search for two dragons. You're not one of them, and the only reason that I interacted with you was because you are a purple dragon."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"The dragon that was responsible for my death was a purple dragon." The nameless dragon said. "His name was Malefor, I'm sure you've heard of him."

"Enough! You might not want to continue the fight, but I have to stop you. I can't let you go on, and risk someone getting hurt because of you." Spyro said, choosing to not spend any more time discussing the green dragons death. He did not want to have a conversation about Malefor.

"Fine than I'll get rid of you first, and then I'll go after him."

Spyro rushed at the green dragon, and swung his tail at him determined to get a strong hit in. The green dragon jumped over Spyro, avoiding his tail, his much larger body making it quiet easy for him. He then proceeded to swing his giant tail at Spyro. Spyro brought both his forearms up, blocking the attack from hitting his chest.

"Let's see how you handle this purple dragon." The hovering earth dragon opened his mouth releasing multiple small energy rocks that hastily approached Spyro. He sidestepped the first few, but quickly became overwhelmed by the speed and number of them. Several hit across Spyro's body, bruising his body in multiple places.

Spyro flew up towards the air, hoping that he would be able to avoid the rocks. His efforts were futile he could sense pain resonating from his wings. The green dragon was now aiming at his wings hoping to make the dragon land. Spyro turned towards the green dragon, which was now earthbound and shot his own energy rock at the dragon. Spyro's attack was much larger than the earth dragon's but was quickly getting pummeled by the smaller rocks.

The medium sized rock broke in smaller multiple pieces that were now descending towards the ground. The green dragon searched for Spyro in the sky, but could not find him. He then sensed a presence behind him, and caught an object with his tail. He turned around looking at Spyro who was struggling to break his arm free from the dragon's tail.

"Sorry kid, but this is it." The green dragon swung Spyro towards the sky, and released more energy rocks from his mouth. Spyro saw them approaching him, and immediately stiffened his body preparing himself for their impact against his reptilian body. The green dragon looked on as all of the rocks hit the airborne dragon. Spyro's limp body fell towards the ground; the green dragon had a feeling of regret as Spyro hit the desolate floor.

"Sorry, but I have to go now," the dragon said looking at the small dust cloud that had formed around where Spyro had impacted. "That attack was not enough to kill you, I held back because you were not a target. I also held back because I don't want to be seen as the same person that I was in my past life." He opened up his wings preparing to fly away from the battlefield.

"We're not done here." A voice said, coming from behind the earth dragon.

The green dragon turned around, and saw a purple blur heading towards him. _Still conscious even from that? _The earth dragon ran towards the purple blur, meeting it head on.

"That attack might have been enough to incapacitate me a couple of months ago, but not after my training. Not after gaining full control over my elements, and as a sign of respect I will use my earth element against your earth element." Spyro said, colliding fists with the earth dragon.

_This much power he was not this strong before. He could only match me in strength when we were in the air. So that means he's drawing out energy from the earth just like me now._ He looked down towards the purple dragon, and noticed something strange about him. _His left eye has a blue highlight around the iris. That could only mean that he has those eyes._

"Your left eye," the dragon said.

"Yea what about it," Spyro said focusing on the struggle.

"It's highlighted blue."

"What?"

"You have the same eyes he did."

It suddenly came to Spyro what the green dragon was talking about. He remembered Rai claiming that his eyes had taken on a blue hue while fighting against Daxaur. But he had them in both, and this dragon was claiming that he had it only in his left eye. He also remembered Rai saying that he was able to see attacks that were moving too fast for normal eyes to see. But Spyro still saw everything normally.

"But I can see that you just barely discovered your ability, judging from the confused look on your face."

"You seem to know a lot about this ability."

"I'll explain the ability to you, if you want me to." The green dragon said, stepping away from Spyro.

* * *

><p>Rai stared at the dragon that had landed in front of him. He immediately felt anger surge within him, remembering what the dragon had done to his teacher. Cynder noticed how Rai starred at the dragon; she felt remorse for the young dragon.<p>

"You, you're one of the three that killed him, now I'll make you pay." He said rushing at the elder dragon.

"Rai, wait!" Cynder shouted.

"This will be easy," the dragon said, preparing himself for Rai's incoming attack. Rai ran across the cement floor of the temple, and then jumped in the air aiming his horns at the older dragon's chest. The older dragon shoved his own horns towards Rai, making contact with the younger dragon's horns. Rai was sent flying backwards, landing hard against the floor. "You are nothing, but an angry dragon that lets his emotions get the better of him."

"I know that, but I use my emotions as a source of power. So that I can protect those I care about." He said, standing back up.

"Well you're not doing a good job; I killed one of the people that you cared about."

"That is why I am going to avenge him here, and now." Rai opened up his maw and released a lightning bolt from it. The attack made its way over towards the yellow dragon, who took the attack head on. The lightning bolt struck the dragon, which looked like he was in pain for a few seconds, but then recovered.

"Damn, I guess I won't be doing that again. But at least, I now know your element and how much damage it is able to do." The dragon said, grinning maniacally towards his opponent. "Lightning, I must admit that I have never come across an element like that. It should be faster and deadlier than electricity, but at the hands of a novice it can barely make me feel pain. An electric dragon like me was able to resist its full damage."

"That attack was just the tip of the ice berg, you should see…"

"Don't kid yourself," the dragon said, cutting of Rai. "We both know that you gave that attack everything you could." The dragon began to surround himself with electricity. "Thanks for the energy boost by the way, your lighting powered me up entirely. Now let me show you what a dragon that has mastered electricity is capable of unleashing." The dragon emitted a static field from his body that quickly filled the entire room.

Cynder flew away from the static field, leaving the temple in the process. Rai stared at the incoming field, deciding to absorb the attack just as the electric dragon had done he stiffened his body. A bright flash filled the temple as it made contact with his body. The bright flash slowly started to fade, revealing the damage it had done. There were now small holes around the walls, letting sunlight in. The roof, that was already falling apart, was completely destroyed.

Cynder flew back down towards the battlefield, she saw Rai lying on the ground. He was squirming around; his body had electricity running through it. Cynder saw the small streams of electricity travel through his body, they were killing him. She stepped closer to try and help him.

"No, stay back," He said, denying help from Cynder. "If you touch me it might transfer to you."

The yellow dragon was laughing at Rai's fatal mistake. "This is to good you tried absorbing it. If the absorber cannot handle the energy that he is absorbing it damages his nervous system. The pain you must be feeling right now must be tremendous. In the end I'd say that absorbing it was more harmful than taking the hit from the attack."

The electricity around Rai began to disappear, he stood himself back up. "I might not be able to use the energy that I would have gotten from that attack. But I don't need it to beat you."

"Fine I'll finish this in a flash, using the thing that electric dragons are famous for their speed." He said, rushing off towards Rai. The electric dragon was covered in yellow streaks.

_The same technique that Daxaur used,_ Rai thought to himself. "I still have one trick that you haven't seen yet." Rai closed his eyes.

* * *

><p>"Why would you share anything like that with me?" Spyro asked, confused as to why his enemy would help him learn more about his skills.<p>

"You forget even though I'm your enemy you are not mine. Besides I want to make up for the sins that I committed in my past life and this should help."

"Alright then tell me what these eyes are."

"First off you must know that the ability is actually linked to a divine entity. This entity grants abnormal abilities to dragons. The abilities are classified into three types: elements, body parts, and eyes. It is completely random on who gets these traits, and the ability that is given. As you already know by now you were given the ability known as divinity eyes, but I guess you could also consider the element that is born from the darkness, convexity, as another one at your disposal. From what I learned from Malefor all purple dragons can use it."

"It seems you were quite close to Malefor." Spyro said, trying to make sense of everything that the nameless dragon was saying.

"I was once part of his army. Now even though you have divinity eyes there are two versions of it called ruin and grace. Guess which one you have kid." The dragon said, scanning Spyro's face for any sign of discomfort, he saw none. "You have ruin, the ability is considered stronger than its counterpart, but as the name suggest it can destroy the user."

"How can it do that?" Spyro asked.

"That is something I do not know, but from the one dragon that I knew who had them. He did not seem at all destroyed by the ability." The earth dragon said, remembering the dragon. "Now your ability goes through three stages, each stage adding to what it grants to the user. The first stage, indicated by a blue hue around the iris, grants the user a better perception. They can see clearer and are able to pick up on the smallest of details."

"But that can't be right, first of all I'm still seeing normally, and second someone I know said that they saw their opponent moving slower." Spyro said, confused about the ability.

"You don't have the skill yet because your eyes have not developed yet. Only your left eye is highlighted blue. It will eventually spread to your right through fighting and training. You need to have it in both in order to have access to that stage's ability." The dragon said, explaining himself. "Now why your friend thought he was seeing the opponent move slower could only be because he was seeing the true form of their fighting style. He was seeing it better and therefor he could see his opponent's movements a lot better. If he uses the ability in battle thinking this, than he will quickly come to realize how wrong he was.

* * *

><p><em>He isn't slowing down; I can see his movements and details a lot better just like with Daxaur. But he won't slow down; I don't know where he'll come from until just the moment before he hits me.<em> Rai thought, lifting himself off the ground.

The electric dragon appeared right in front of Rai. "I don't know what you were hoping to do by highlighting your left eye blue and your right one red. It obviously did not do anything because I am still dominating this battle." The electric dragon swiftly punched Rai in the stomach. The lightning dragon was sent flying into a cement wall.

_Did he just say that my eyes were highlighted different colors, but how is it possible last time they were both highlighted blue. _"That attack makes you faster than me. Without it I would be dominating this battle with my speed."

"You should be blaming yourself for not learning the attack, it is quite simple. It is an attack most electric dragons learn at the beginning of their elemental training. It should be a breeze to learn for a lightning dragon, this just proves that you lack self-control."

"Electric and lightning abilities work differently they are not one in the same. Lightning is more difficult to control. I'll show you just how much control I have." Rai brought his left fist down and began to charge his fist with lightning. He then began charging his right arm with lightning as well. He placed the lightning infused arm just above his left fist. He took hold of it and transferred all the lightning over to his left forearm. It was now surging with streams of light blue lightning. His left paw held the source of the energy, which was pulsating a white and blue color.

"He's using that attack again," Cynder whispered to herself.

"What the hell is that? No matter what, I cannot let him hit me with it." The elder dragon said to himself.

Rai smiled to himself and took off towards the dragon.

* * *

><p>"The second skill replaces the blue hue with a red one. It gives the user the ability to copy the moves of their opponent. As long as their body is able to move the same way and if they have the same element; then they are able to copy their elemental attacks. The final stage gives the eyes a dark purple highlight. This stage allows you to see your opponent's moves step by step. It gives the illusion that they are moving in slow motion. Those skillful enough can use it to predict their opponent's moves. There is also the ability of illusions which the dragon can cast if he has direct eye contact with his opponent. This ability is automatically gained upon reaching the first stage." The dragon finished explaining, and began running towards Spyro.<p>

The two confronted each other, and began throwing punches at each other. They used the planet's energy to increase their strength. The two were throwing body shots at each other, neither staggered from the hits that they were receiving. Multiple bruises were forming over both dragons' bodies. The two threw a single punch towards each other; both were struck by the other in the face. They took a couple of steps backwards, but then went back to beating on each other.

* * *

><p>"What are you doing?" asked the red scaled dragon. His entire body was frozen except for his head. He attempted to melt away the ice with his fire breath, but it was quickly extinguished by the ice's freezing temperature. "I thought that you had agreed to what I had told you."<p>

"I did, but I'm not ready to go yet there is still something that I have to do." Cyrus said, stepping towards the frozen dragon. "I'll decide how I get there; I don't need help from the likes of you." He froze the dragon's head, and turned around whipping his tail at the ice. It shattered into tiny pieces as his tail made contact with it. The red dragon was no more.


	16. Chapter 16

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Rai ran towards the electric dragon, breaking apart the ground as he dragged his arm across the ground. The electric dragon had no time to defend himself as Rai lunched his arm at the dragon. The attack had kept its initial energy, Rai was sure that the attack was finally going to work. His hopes were quickly diminished as he felt the powerful lightning energy evaporate. He ended up hitting the electric dragon with a normal punch. Rai was at a loss for words the attack that he had put everything on failed again.<p>

"Using an attack that doesn't even work, you had me worked up over nothing kid." The electric dragon said, lowering his elbow towards Rai's head. "Let's put an end to this pitiful battle, Electric Element: Electrified Elbow Shot." His elbow connected with Rai's head, and a large electricity bolt traveled from his elbow to Rai's head. It travelled all the way to his hind legs, spreading across the ground as it left the young dragon's body. Rai's motionless body dropped towards the ground.

"It's not over yet," he said, noticing that one of Rai's talons was moving. "Alright then let me end this." The dragon lifted his tail, and brought it down towards Rai's head.

The electric dragon was hit with a surge of wind breath, interrupting his attempt to end the lightning dragon's life. He looked towards the attack's direction, and saw that it had come from the dark violet dragon. Cynder launched a ball of poison towards the dragon. He instantly felt a burning sensation against his body as the attack made contact. He began to glow yellow, he used his speed to travel at a speed at which his opponent could not follow. As he was about to hit the dragoness, three red glowing orbs hit the dragon. He had not noticed that they were above the violet dragon, protecting her.

"Damn it, I can't move." The attack paralyzed the dragon, as much as he wanted to move he could not. His limbs were no reacting. He shifted his eyes scanning the area for the violet dragon, he could not find her. "Where in the world could she have gone?"

A dark figure jumped out of the shadows, scratching the yellow dragon vertically up with its talons. Cynder left three deep cuts alongside the dragon's body. The pain that the dragon felt from the attack broke him out of the paralysis. Blood began running down the dragon's body, thanks to the freshly made wounds.

"I don't know who you are girl, but you sure have some fight in you." The dragon said, crouching down on all four limbs. "Let's see if you can keep it up."

The dragon pounced at Cynder, taking a step back she opened her maw and released a gust of wind. The wind current lifted the dragon up towards the sky. Cynder followed the dragon, parting the air in front of her in order to fly ahead of the dragon. Cynder flew in front of the dragon, and began nose-diving towards him.

"I hope this works," She said to herself. Cynder made contact with the dragon head-butting the dragon, in the chest, in midair. The impact created a huge shockwave of wind, making the entire building shake. The wind that had been pushing the yellow dragon upwards had disappeared. Instead the wind had begun to part, as the dragons descended towards the ground. The two fell at a greater velocity thanks to Cynder's technique; as a result the impact would be more severe for both of them. The ground broke apart as the two crashed into it. Both of their bodies were lying on the ground, for a moment neither moved.

Then one began to stand up from the ground. The yellow dragon looked down, at the violet dragon. Cynder began opening her eyes; she struggled getting up. She looked up, noticing that her opponent was still conscious. Not only was he conscious, but in better shape than she was.

"I got to hand it to you girl that was a close one. I wasn't sure if I was going to survive that one. But for some reason you held back. Here's some advice when you're fighting for your life do not hold back." The dragon said, advancing towards Cynder but was stopped as a jolt of pain travelled up his body.

"The crash was not going to do the same damage to both of us; you received most of the impact." Cynder said, getting to her feet. "The impact broke all your ribs."

_Damn it, damn it,_ the dragon thought to himself. _I was given a second chance at life, and I wasted it on following their commands. Now I'm about to be beaten by a dragon, a dragon that is much younger than I. Wait there still might be a way that I can defeat her._ The dragon looked behind him, and found what he was looking for.

"Hey, what are you looking at?" Cynder asked.

"I'm starring at something that will restore my energy, and make me stronger." He said, flying towards the object, ignoring the pain.

Cynder looked towards where the dragon was flying towards; a sudden realization dawned on her. He was flying over towards Rai. She pushed past her pain, setting flight towards Rai as well. The battle had drained Cynder of most of her elemental energy; she could not part the wind anymore. By the time she flew over to where Rai had been, she was too late. The yellow dragon was holding Rai by his horns with his paw. He had a sharp talon pointing at his exposed neck.

"Step any closer and I'll kill him." The dragon said, pushing against Rai's neck with his claw. "Now be a good young dragoness, and wait there while I absorb some of his lightning."

Cynder did not know what to do. If she got any closer to the dragon, it would cause him to kill Rai. On the other hand if she did nothing about it, he would drain all of Rai's lightning. It would power up the electric dragon, resulting in certain defeat for her. She tried thinking of a way to save Rai without letting the dragon absorb his energy. She looked back towards Rai, and realized that he was opening his eyes.

He stared at nothing, trying to realize where he was. He began remembering that he was fighting against a yellow dragon. Then all of the day's events came rushing back to him. His body felt a bit banged up, but he could still use all of his limbs. He also felt as if he was being strangled, and saw that the dragon he had been fighting previously was holding him by the neck.

"Now give me your energy, lightning dragon." He heard the dragon say. He felt his elemental energy drain away from him. He looked around, and saw that an injured Cynder was standing on the opposite side of them just a couple feet away. He stared into her eyes, as she stared back into his. Cynder saw nothing in his eyes; it was as if she was staring into a void. Then out of nowhere his showed anger, but she also saw something that the anger was trying to cover up. It was disappointment.

"Never again, never again will I let that happen." Rai said, giving more lightning to the electric dragon to absorb.

"What are you doing?" The electric dragon said, continuing to absorb Rai's lightning.

"Here take all of my lightning, let's see if you can absorb it." Rai's lighting was transferring over towards the yellow dragon. It traveled up his arm, spreading evenly throughout his body. The dragon was letting out screams of pain. As much as he wanted to let go of Rai, his body was not cooperating with him. The lightning was frying all of his muscles, rendering them useless.

Rai finished, transferring the last of his lightning over to the dragon. He slipped out of the dragon's grasp and fell to the ground. He had lost all of his energy in the transfer. Rai looked back, and saw the dragon fall to the ground as well; he had passed out from the pain he had endured.

"What did you do to him?" Cynder asked.

"I gave him what he asked for," He said.

"Last time he absorbed your attack it worked, why didn't it work this time?" She asked confused about the circumstance.

"He must have not known a lot about a lightning dragon, or how absorbing electric attacks work. You see when an electric dragon absorbs another electric dragon's attack they disperse the energy throughout their body, reducing the damage and making it their own. It does not matter what type of electric dragon is doing the absorbing or vice versa. If the dragon is skilled enough they will be able to absorb the attack regardless of type." Rai said, receiving a nod from Cynder indicating that she was following.

"This only works if there is no direct physical contact between the two dragons. Because if there is the electric dragon's type comes into effect. Dragons of the same type can transfer energy over to each other without a problem. But if they are not of the same type, then something else occurs. The dragon that is the stronger type will cause unbearable pain when transferring his type of electricity to the other. It is because their type of electricity is too powerful to be in the others body. The type of electricity doesn't change to the others type, it stays the same."

"So if you absorbed someone else's like that would you get hurt?" She asked.

"No because my type is stronger, I can absorb theirs without causing damage to my body. I learned all of this from Cyrus and Irus."

Cynder stepped over to Rai, and helped him get up.

"Did you kill him?" She asked.

"No, he's just unconscious, but with all the pain I bet he wishes he was."

The two began walking away from the dragon, but stopped as a chill went up both their spines. They turned around and saw that the dragon had shattered into millions of tiny ice particles.

"Why didn't the two of you kill him?" They heard a cold voice ask them. The two dragons turned back around and saw a dark blue dragon in front of them.

"I didn't feel like it." Rai rudely responded.

"I thought you wanted to avenge Irus."

"The pain that he went through was a fate worse than death. It is enough for me."

"If you say so," the dragon said flying into the sky. "Now follow me there is still one of them left." The two dragons followed after him.

* * *

><p>Spyro was standing in front of his fallen opponent, who was lying on his back. Spyro had won the battle between them.<p>

"Spyro, before you leave I have to tell you something." The earth dragon said.

"Why don't you come with us, and forget about those dragons."

"I wish that I could, but as long as they're still alive I must follow them."

"Why is that?" Spyro asked.

"If I don't, then most likely they will be ordered to kill me. But at least now I can tell you the reason why we were ordered to come here. We were ordered to confront two dragons who resided in this temple. One of the two told us their location."

"Who?"

"A dragon that you must not trust purple dragon, he sold out his own friend. Cyrus is not who he says he is."

"What?" Spyro was shocked by the sudden revelation.

"We were supposed to tell them…" The earth dragon was caught off as an icy wind covered his body, freezing the dragon's body completely. Cyrus landed on the earth dragon breaking the icy body into several pieces. Spyro looked on as the earth dragons body disappeared into the wind.

"Don't listen to him Spyro, his lying to you." Cyrus said, stepping towards Spyro. "Or do you seriously believe him, because if you do than I would have to treat you as an enemy." He whispered.

Rai and Cynder landed a couple of feet away from the two of them. Spyro looked at both of them; their bodies had a couple of bruises but nothing serious. "You refused to help your friend, proclaiming that it was the right course of action. This dragon followed his teammates because he had to, but he also tried to avoid violence because he wanted to be a better dragon. I trust him, and believe that he was telling the truth."

"Smart dragon," Cyrus said, jumping backwards.

"What's going on?" Cynder asked, as Spyro landed next to them.

"Cyrus here was behind the attack on the temple. It is his fault that Irus is dead."

"What? It was him; Irus is dead because of his own friend." Rai flew off towards Cyrus, "You'll pay for his death Cyrus."

"Is that any way to speak to your teacher, young dragon?" Cyrus said, releasing two ice spikes from his mouth. The ice spikes missed Rai, and instead hit both Spyro and Cynder in one of their wings. They instantly froze their wings, and the ice slowly began travelling through their bodies.

"What did you do to them?" Rai asked.

"I've given you a time limit. You have to defeat me before the ice covers their body, because after that they will die. If they move the ice will only cover them faster." He said, explaining to Rai. "Before we start, you should have some of these." He said, giving Rai green gems.

"Alright let's go," Rai said, feeling his energy come back to him.

Rai flew towards Cyrus, and began throwing punches at him. Cyrus dodged all of his attacks, and struck Rai's face with his sharp tipped tail. He drew blood, cutting Rai's cheek. Rai opened his maw, releasing a lightning bolt. Cyrus opened his mouth, releasing a cloud of cold air. Rai's lightning bolt froze, and fell to the ground shattering on impact.

"Pathetic is this the result of your training? You truly are a failure of a student."

The grey dragon's fist began flickering with electricity. He threw a lightning punch at the dragon, hoping that it would strike his opponent's cheek. Cyrus saw the lightning fist coming towards him, and turned his head slightly. Rai missed Cyrus's face by a second, the dragon's body moved forward.

"How dare you call yourself a lightning dragon, you are not even at the speed of an electric dragon." The dark blue dragon wrapped his tail around Rai's hind leg, and smashed him against the ground.

"Something's wrong," Spyro told Cynder.

"What do you mean?"

"I can feel a lot of elemental energy coming from Rai, but I can't feel anything from Cyrus. It's as if he's holding back."

_I can't touch him everything I do is useless against him. I…I can't do anything against him I haven't felt this weak since back then with Malefor. This feeling it's…fear, I'm no match for him. I'm sorry Spyro, Cynder I can't save you guys. But I can still try at least one more time. _He looked at both his hands; looking over towards his left arm he saw the bracelet that Cynder had given him. It was a bit dirty from all the dirt around the field, but it still gave off a small lowered his arms onto the ground, and put his right paw over his left arm.

"This again, you're using an attack that doesn't even work. Fine I'll humor you; I'll even give you a free shot." Cyrus said, landing in front of him. He opened his wings, giving Rai a clear shot.

Rai had finished readying his attack, seeing that Cyrus was right in front, Rai closed his eyes and launched his lightning streaked arm towards the dark blue dragon's chest. "I hope this works; I created this attack so I could protect my friends, Lightning Element: Gauntlet."

Rai did not know if his attack had landed or not, he still had his eyes closed. His ears on the other hand had picked up gasps coming from Spyro and Cynder. He also felt that his left arm still had lightning traveling through it wildly. He also felt his paw grasping onto something, something that pulsated every few seconds. He slowly opened his eyes, revealing that Cyrus had blood pouring out of his mouth. A disturbing smile formed on the dark blue dragon's mouth.

"You finally completed your attack."

Rai looked at his arm, and was stunned by what he saw. His arm had gone into his enemy's chest, creating a gaping hole that had blood running out of it. It then hit him that the pulsating object he was grasping onto was the dragon's heart. His arm was still giving off lightning streaks while inside his opponent's chest.

"I'm sorry for doing all of this, Rai. It was the only way that I could help in making that attack work." Cyrus's body was slowly turning into ice.

"Teacher what are you saying?" Rai asked, trying to grasp the reality of what was happening.

"I'm sorry for putting your friend's in danger, but at least now you've learned that you are strong enough to protect them. But more importantly you have learned the consequence of power; it is like a double edge sword. On one hand it can be used to protect those you hold dear, but if you don't keep it in check it can harm them. Good bye, Rai." Cyrus said, disappearing into several sparkling particles.

"Cyrus…Teacher! Aaahhhhh!" Rai yelled out, at the sky. "I'm a monster, I killed him and all he did was help me."

Spyro and Cynder landed next to him, and began comforting their friend. "Let's go home Rai." Spyro said.


	17. Chapter 17

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>"Welcome home Rai." Spyro said, leading Rai and Cynder into Warfang.<p>

The first thing that Rai noticed was that the moles had already begun rebuilding the city. He then saw that since he had left new creatures had established themselves within the city. The two that stood out to him the most were the cheetahs, and dragons.

"You guys found more dragons?" Rai asked.

"Well yes and no," Spyro replied. "You see they sought out Warfang on their own. I asked Terrador why this was and he said it was because Dragons are drawn to this city. He said those that are not enslaved or captured will seek out this city. He also said that some will build their own cities instead of coming to this one."

"Can these dragons use their element powers as well?"

"Yea the ones that know how to, but they choose not to. You see since their no longer is a war going on, there is no need for them to learn how to fight." Cynder responded.

"Spyro, Cynder you're back." A voice shouted out.

"Hey its, Flame," Spyro said, as a red orange dragon landed in front of him.

"So I see that you guys brought Rai back, are you on your way to see the Guardians?"

"Yea we're going to tell them what we discovered."

"Alright then I'll let you get going on that then." He said, flying off.

"Come on guys lets go."

* * *

><p>"I see well it looks like we misjudged that place." Terrador said, after hearing Spyro's report.<p>

"I don't think you did. They taught me the basics in controlling my lightning element. Thanks to them I now know how lighting works." Rai said, defending his teachers.

"Yes, but it's obvious that they were involved in something they should have not been involved with." Cyril responded.

"But that doesn't change the fact that they helped me in controlling my powers. Till the very end they saw me as their student. They only wanted to prepare me for the world, even as he was dying. Cyrus wasn't mad at me; instead he was happy that I had completed my attack. And all that I could think of while I pierced his chest was how much I hated him for getting Irus killed. In the end I know that it wasn't his fault. No one will truly know why those dragons wanted to meet up with Cyrus and Irus."

"That doesn't change the fact that they taught you an ability that you used to kill one of them." Volteer said.

"No they didn't teach me that attack, I created it myself to protect my friends. But you're right about one thing they did teach me. They taught me more things than the three of you have. You didn't even tell me that the ability in my eyes is called divine eyes. Even though you fought in the same war that the dragon that Spyro fought was in."

"We didn't want to tell you because you were not ready for that kind of information." Terrador responded.

"Why is that? Is it because you still don't trust me, or maybe you're afraid of the ability?"

"No because it is a rule established by the ancestors." He responded.

"What do you mean?" Spyro asked.

"It is none of your concern at the moment young dragon." Terrador responded.

"Maybe it is Terrador," Cyril spoke up. "Spyro and Cynder have both proven themselves, and we have enough dragons that can participate. Perhaps it's time that we give them the test.

"What test?" Cynder asked.

"Alright then if you want to have it your way, Cyril. Go to your rooms and rest up young dragons, tomorrow you will participate in an event that will determine your future. Meet us back here tomorrow around the same time. You are dismissed."

The three dragons left the room and flew off to their rooms.

"I hope you are right about this Cyril, because this will determine their future. He must not finish before Spyro."

"Don't worry Terrador, considering his personality Spyro will probably finish in the same place that he finished in." Cyril responded.

"Ah yes, if I'm not mistaken he was one of Ignitus's two protégés." Volteer added.

"Too bad in the end both betrayed him, he had such high hopes for them as well." Cyril said.

"The two of them committed the unforgivable sin, doing so because they wanted to be stronger than the other." Terrador said, "Ignitus was so saddened by the event that after he began teaching Spyro, he told me that it would be different with him. Tomorrow we will see if Spyro is truly up to the task."

* * *

><p>"So what event will we be participating in, Terrador?" Spyro said, questioning the dragon about yesterday's conversation.<p>

"Yea, we would also like to know why we were called upon to come today." Flame said, talking on the behalf of Ember, Blaze, and Blair.

"I was going to skip this event until someone forced me to come." Blaze said, referring to Blair.

"Oh quit your whining Blaze, aren't you the least bit curious in finding out what kind of event were going to participate in." Blair said.

"Let's just get on with the event already." Rai said, getting irritated by the two dragons arguing.

"You're so full of yourself Rai, you know that. You think that you're better than all of us." Blaze said.

Rai stepped closer to Blaze, facing him face to face. "No I just think that I'm better than you."

"Whatever we take place in today I hope that you come in last. So that you can see that you're not as strong as you believe you are."

"I can guarantee that I will at least finish before you."

"Alright that's enough young dragons, pay attention to the explanation." Volteer said, getting everyone's attention.

"First off, the reason that we are having this event is because the three of us believe that the seven of you are ready for this. In the dragon society there are different classes in which dragons are classified into. This classification is based on power and not on social status." Cyril said.

"There are four classes in total, which represent how powerful a dragon is. The first class is known as standard; the dragons classified under this have elemental powers but will most likely never use them for battle in their lives. The majority of the dragon population falls under this. The second class is the novice class, currently there are five of you in this room that fall under that category. The two that don't fit this category are Spyro and Cynder."

"That can't be right I should be in the same class as Spyro and Cynder." Rai said, interrupting Terrador's explanation.

"From yesterday's report both Spyro and Cynder defeated dragon's whom I would classify at apprentice level. From what I heard the opponent you faced overpowered you. If it wasn't for Cynder he would have killed you." Cyril responded.

Rai remained silent; he knew that Cyril had a point. He had been the only one out of the three to not defeat one of those dragons. Sure he had dealt the final blow to the electric dragon, but only after he had taken a beating from Cynder.

"Now what classifies a dragon under this class," Terrador said, continuing the explanation. "Is that dragons know how to use their elements in battle, but do not yet have full control over them. The third stage is referred to as the apprentice stage; dragons in this stage have full control over their element. The fourth stage is known as the master stage; dragons in this stage have full control over their elements, and have developed their own fighting style. These dragons have even created multiple signature attacks that are unique to them."

"No there has to be more than four." Rai said, interrupting yet again, "Irus and Cyrus were both much stronger than to be classified into the stages that you have described."

"I have to agree with Rai, when Cyrus attacked us he was overpowering us even though he was holding back." Spyro added.

"Alright then we might as well admit that within the master class there is a certain structure in regards to how powerful the dragon is." Cyril stated.

"Then tell us at least were Malefor would classify in that class." Rai said.

"We are not aware of Malefor's classification when he fought Spyro and Cynder, but we believe that he was in the lowest rank of the master class." Terrador said.

Volteer brought out seven potions and began passing them around to the seven dragons.

"Now for the event to begin all of you must drink the potion" Terrador said, watching each dragon drink the potion. "This potion will cause all of you to fall asleep within a couple of minutes. Once you are asleep the seven of you will begin to dream. At first all of you will be together in the dream, but soon you will each become separated from each other. You will encounter your deepest fears within the dream. In order to decide if those of you in the novice class should receive training to advance into the apprentice class, we must see if you are able to let go of your fears. Since Cynder and Spyro have already let go of their fears by facing Malefor. They will deal with a different kind of fear. The event is over once all of you wake up. One more thing, waking up first does not necessary mean that you scored better than the others."

Mere seconds after Terrador had finished his explanation the seven dragons fell asleep. The three guardians waited for the dragons to complete their event.

"Their time limit is eight hours, after that whoever is still asleep we wake up." Volteer stated.

"How long do you think it will take them to wake up?" Cyril asked.

"I believe that after two hours we should see some of them begin to wake up, but I believe that at least two will fail to wake up after the eight hour time limit." Terrador said.

"You believe that the two are Blaze and Rai, right?"

"Yes," Terrador responded.

"The one that we should be worried about is Spyro though," Cyril said. "Because he is a purple dragon this test will be difficult for him. He will either awaken around the same time every purple dragon has, or the same time that those two woke up. Both of Ignitus's students awoke when there was only one second left."

"Time will tell, for now we wait patiently."


	18. Chapter 18

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>"Where are we?" asked a voice.<p>

"I don't know, but it sure does look lifeless."

The seven dragons looked around at their surroundings, seeing the vast empty lifeless field in front of them made them wonder in what kind of world they were in.

"So which one of us will get separated first?" Blaze said.

"Hold on where's Flame?" Spyro asked, looking around for the fire dragon.

"I guess he was the first one to go." Rai replied.

"I think we should all stick together, for as long as we can." Ember replied.

"Easier said, than done," Blair said, being absorbed into the ground.

"Blair," Blaze said, calling out her name as he took hold of her paw. He tried pulling her out of the ground, but in his efforts he too was absorbed into it.

"That just leaves the four of us," Cynder replied.

"We should all just let it absorb us, it is part of the exam after all." Rai said, sitting down on the ground.

"I guess he's right, I'm sure that they are in no real danger. After all the Guardians would probably stop the exam if they were."

"So do we just wait to be absorbed into the ground?" Ember asked. She received a nod from Spyro.

* * *

><p>Flame was surrounded by darkness he couldn't see more than five feet in front of him.<p>

"We're am I?" He called out.

The darkness responded to his voice, and morphed into a scene that was very familiar to him. It was the training grounds that he, Blaze, Blair, and Ember had used to train in during the one month period. He then began seeing four figures on the field; it soon became apparent to him that the figures were of him and his friends.

"Look at them out there." A high pitched voice said. Flame looked around for the source of the voice, but found nothing. "The three of them came so far during that one month period, but what did you do Flame?" Flame began to answer, but was immediately cut off by the voice. "Nothing, you spent your entire time goofing up, and trying to make the others laugh. What a shame, I thought you were going to try and be more like him. I guess that's why you're losing the dragoness that you love to another dragon."

"I don't care about being strong or responsible, as long as I have my friends by my side I don't care what happens." He responded.

"Look back at the scenery."

Flame looked back and realized that he was by himself on the training ground, training by himself.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Because you decided to go on joking, and thinking that everything was a joke. Your so called friends abandoned you. They left you alone, because they knew that they couldn't count on you when something serious came up." The voice responded.

"What was so important that they left me behind?"

"All I am allowed to tell you is that a team needed to be formed and Spyro did not choose you, because he felt that you would be a risk to the team. Now I believe that it is time for you to wake up."

"Wait I thought that I was supposed to conquer my fears."

"This is a fear that cannot be conquered in a dream; only in the real world can you conquer it. If you have already figured out what your fear is."

"Wait!" Flame shouted out, waking up in the room he had fallen asleep in.

"Welcome back, young dragon you are the first one to awaken." Volteer said.

"How long was I asleep for?" He asked.

"Around two hours and thirty minutes." He responded.

"So what did you learn?" Terrador asked.

* * *

><p>Ember walked around in the darkness looking for a way out of it. She then suddenly saw images approaching her. They were rapidly flashing in front of her, making out some of them she figured that the images were about her. Then she realized that the images fit a certain theme, they were all some of the happiest times of her life.<p>

"You constantly cling to these memories don't you Ember." A high pitched voice called out from behind her.

Ember looked behind her looking for the source of the voice, but found nothing. "Come out I know you're there." She called out.

"You're always so happy Ember, always looking on the bright side of things. Even when something goes wrong you try and pretend that it will get better."

"That's because things will get better as long you believe they will."

"But how much suffering do you have to go through until things become better, huh Ember?" The voice said, making Ember uneasy. "Have you forgotten all of these memories?" The images that Ember had been staring at burned into the wind, and were replaced by new ones. The new images made Ember cringe in fear.

"Stop those memories are fake, they never happened to me."

"Oh, but they did Ember. Remember how you and your friends were treated by Daxaur. All the torture you suffered at the hands of the apes. You've chosen to repress all of your dark memories, because they are the saddest in your life. They took away that smile from you, and broke you down mentally. You were forced to create an imaginary world for yourself, during that period in order to cope with the reality of the situation."

"It was too much for me to handle, I couldn't live in a place like that." Ember said, beginning to cry from the strain of having to remember her past.

"But of course someone brought you back into reality, Spyro." At the mention of his name a speck of happiness was brought back to Ember. "He brought hope to that monstrous place didn't he? And all of a sudden you felt feelings for him that you have never had for another dragon. Too bad he doesn't feel the same way about you, because how could he ever love a dragon who represses her past like you do. He has feeling for Cynder, a dragon that has conquered her past."

Ember began crying again into her arms, hiding her face from the mysterious voice. She did not want to give it the satisfaction of seeing her cry. That is if it could see her. She stayed in that position for a couple of minutes thinking about what the voice had said. The voice was right about her repressing those memories; it was something she wished to forget. They were an unforgettable part of her life. They were something that would remain with her for the rest of her life, but it was up to her to decide if the memories would hunt her.

The pink dragoness stood up from the ground, looking up towards the sky she yelled, "Yes I'll admit that during that time my happiness was false, it was my way of coping with everything around me. But there were times when I was truly happy, when I was with my friends. Blair, Blaze, and Flame we helped each other get through everything that the apes did to us. What I can take away from those memories is how my friends were my source of happiness, just like I'm their source of happiness."

"What if you face something like that again? How will you cope with it?" The voice responded.

"As long as I'm with my friends, nothing will ever be able to take away my happiness. I will never experience total loss of hope ever again." Ember said, smiling up towards the sky.

"Alright young dragon you beat me." Ember began disappearing into the darkness, as her body completely disappeared into the darkness it spoke up one more time. "We will soon see if what you said still holds up if you, and your friends were to be separated from each other."

"Well look who else is up." Ember heard a voice say, as she woke up. "Welcome back Ember," Cyril said, welcoming her back.

She looked around, and saw that Flame was also awake he was taking to Terrador.

"You have been a sleep for three hours Ember."

"Three hours it felt like only a couple of minutes." She responded.

"Really? Flame said he felt like he had been dreaming for hours." Volteer responded.

"Well I'm just glad to be out of that horrible place." She said, looking at the five sleeping dragons. "I hope it isn't as bad for them as it was for me in there."

* * *

><p>Blair was training with Blaze, Flame, and Ember on the training field.<p>

"Alright guys, you're doing so much better than a couple of weeks ago, and especially you Blaze. You're almost on my level now." She said, teasing the red-blue dragon.

"Hm," Blaze looked away. "Shows what you know I was just going easy on you Blair."

"Is that so, than how about we have a little one on one?" She said, walking up to Blaze. "Or are you scared?" Blair teased, walking past him and rubbing her tail under his chin.

"No, I'm not scared." Blaze said, blushing from having made contact with Blair. "I would fight you, but it's just that you're a girl and it would be wrong of me to fight you."

"How noble of you Blaze, but I think the true reason that you don't want to fight is that you are scarred of losing to a girl."

Blair waited for Blaze's response, but as he opened his mouth she was surprised to find out that she could not hear anything. She looked around her surroundings, and saw that everything was collapsing. It then hit her that she was still dreaming, and that the dream had conjured up a past memory. She waited for the memory to disappear, welcoming the darkness that followed its disappearance. Taking a battle stance Blair readied herself for an enemy that might emerge from the darkness.

"Calm down Blair there is no need to show off for me." The high pitched voice said, addressing the dragoness, "Why do you always feel the need to prove to your friends how skillful you are."

"That's not true I don't do that."

"Is that what you really think? Just from that memory I could tell you wanted to show them how much better you were than them. You always want to succeed at everything, you do. I guess it's just natural that no one wants to fail. Most creatures don't want to fail because then they will see themselves as weak. But you Blair are afraid that others will see you as weak."

"That's not true, as if I would actually care what others think of me." She yelled out at the voice, which was making her furious.

"What's wrong with failure Blair, it helps you learn from your mistakes. No one is perfect, everyone fails sometimes. But I'm forgetting one thing you're their little leader. You feed off the admiration that they have for you. It seems that you've already figured it out, they would cast you aside if they saw even a shred of weakness from you."

Blair's anger quickly turned into sadness, what the voice was saying began affecting her. The words that it spoke were completely true. She showed off because she was afraid of what they would think if she failed. If she showed any sign of weakness, she was afraid that her friends would abandon her.

"Not only that, but what most frightens you is that the dragon that you love will also abandon you. He will leave you without you ever revealing your feelings to him."

"No," She cried out.

"After all who would ever want to be with an egotistic,"

"No"

"Arrogant"

"No, No"

"Self-centered"

"No! No! No!"

"Dragoness like you." The voice said, finishing insulting Blair.

Blair began breaking down and crying, she could not bear to listen to his words for any longer. Unfortunately for her the voice had no intentions to stop.

"If only your friends could see you now, crying like a new born hatchling. They would not only see you as weak, but mock you for it as well. Someone who they saw as strong was only pretending to be that, so that her so called friends wouldn't leave her. It truly is…"

"Why don't you just shut the hell up!" A voice yelled out from the darkness, interrupting the high pitched voice.

Blair looked towards the voice's direction; she saw a figure coming out of the darkness. At first she thought it was the figure of the high pitched voice, but then saw that it was walking on all fours, and had red and blue scales. It was Blaze.

"Her true friends don't care if she's strong or weak. We don't care if she constantly succeeds or if she constantly fails. We like her for just being her." Blaze said, approaching Blair.

"You don't think that I'm weak for crying?" She asked him.

"Of course I don't, it's a natural response. Plus how could I consider someone that can beat me in a fight as being weak." He said, bringing a smile to Blair's face. "Her friends will never abandon her."

Blaze got close to Blair and hugged her. Blair felt all the sadness disappear from her, and was left with a warm feeling in her chest. She began to blush from the sudden contact with Blaze.

"Blaze you're such an idiot." She said, hugging him back. "Thank you, for helping me overcome my fears."

Blaze watched as Blair disappeared from his hold on her.

"So is this what you do for fun, breaking down someone until they completely break down from your constant assaults on them. It must really satisfy you to see them when they finally break. You're a pretty disgusting creature. So how about you do me next then, huh." Blaze said, addressing the high pitched voice.

"Your time will come eventually Blaze; I have something special planned for you that involves another dragon." The voice said, disappearing into the darkness.

Blaze continued walking, further into the vastly dark landscape.


	19. Chapter 19

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>"Hey, Blair is waking up." Flame said, trying to get the attention of the Guardians.<p>

"Am I awake?" She asked.

"Yes, it seems that you are the third dragon to awaken." Cyril tolled her.

"It's finally over, I was in a nightmare."

"A nightmare that lasted for four hours," Volteer responded. "So did you conquer your fears young dragon?"

"Yes, with Blaze's help." Blair responded, remembering how in her time of need Blaze had been there to help her.

* * *

><p>"Where is this?" Cynder asked, staring at a castle. She walked into the castle, hoping to discover if there was anyone inside of it. Cynder continued walking further into the castle, eventually making it to the castle's throne room. Looking around Cynder saw that there were two figures in it. A giant ape sat on the throne chair surrounded by normal sized apes. While a large black dragoness, around the size of one of the guardians, bowed down to the ape. She then realized that the figures were in fact Gaul and herself, while she served under Malefor.<p>

"Do you remember this day, Cynder," A high pitched voice asked. "This was the day that you were ordered to hunt down the Guardians. You were told to kill anyone that stood in your way, and we both know that you followed that part exceptionally well."

"So is this what you've come to talk to me about. You think that I'm still afraid that they will only see me as I was before. It might hurt when they only see my errors. I've already come to realize that I can't change their minds, but I can show them that I am no longer that creature."

The voice began laughing, "You actually think that was what I was trying to show you here." Cynder had a confused look on her face. "No, Cynder I showed you this to help you understand how easily you gave into this darkness. I showed you this because deep down your true fear isn't how others perceive you because of this. You fear the inevitability that one day you might become that dragoness again."

"I'll never become that ever again." She argued.

"Come now Cynder, we both know that you're lying. You were so easily influenced by Malefor yet again, when you and Spyro faced him for the final time. How long before you become that dragoness again, Cynder? How long before you hurt the ones you love?"

"It's true that I fear becoming that monster again, but I've found someone that can help me from becoming that again." She said.

"You mean Spyro, I'm sorry to say this Cynder, but he's on the same boat as you."

"Lair, and even if he was Spyro would never turn into a monster." Cynder said, defending the dragon she was in love with.

"It's actually quite funny how Spyro fears power, while Rai fears weakness. Two dragons that have had an impact in your life, at one point, but you have shunned your former friend."

"I haven't shunned Rai!" Cynder argued.

"Is that what you really think? Tell me did you even once comfort Rai, after he killed his own teacher." Its words made Cynder grow silent. "Do you know that he still hasn't gotten over what he did," The voice began to disappear. "I have talked for too long, you have already passed the test. You are free to go."

Cynder woke up from the dream gasping for air.

"Cynder are you okay?" Cyril asked, rushing over towards her to make sure she was alright.

"Yea, I'm fine." She said, getting up from the ground.

"Six hours, the rest only have two hours left." Terrador announced.

* * *

><p>Spyro continued looking at the scene that appeared before him. It was when he was fighting Gaul, at the Well of Souls.<p>

"Do you remember this day Spyro?" A high-pitched voice asked.

"So are you going to tell me what my fear is?"

"Me? No, no, no, there is someone much more capable than me for that."

"Like who?" Spyro asked.

"He will appear in a moment. Well I must leave you now Spyro, there are other dragons that need my guidance."

Spyro continued looking at his fight with Gaul, trying to figure out what the voice had meant. He continued watching until he got to the part where the power of convexity took him over. He looked away not wanting to see the actions that he would commit.

"Why are you looking away?" Spyro heard a voice very much like his own only a bit more distorted ask, turning around he saw that it came from himself. "Don't you want to watch us destroy Gaul?" Dark Spyro continued to turn Gaul into stone, following up with turning Gaul into pieces.

"I should have never relied on that power." Spyro commented looking away from the scene.

"But, why not?" Dark Spyro said, stepping out of the scene. "Just imagine what we could do together."

Spyro turned around and saw that his dark self was standing in front of him.

"How is that possible?"

"This is our subconscious; this is where I reside most of the time. I wait everyday hoping that you will once again give yourself over to convexity; so that I can go crazy on your unlucky opponent." He said, smiling at the idea.

"I don't need your power; I can overcome any obstacle by relying on my own powers."

"Then why didn't you save Ignitus with your powers?" He said, catching Spyro off guard. He smiled knowing that he had Spyro right where he wanted him. "If you had let me take control, just like you had planned too, then I could have saved him."

"No, it wouldn't have been the way he wanted me to do it." Spyro said, fighting against Dark Spyro's manipulation.

"How would you know? If it wasn't for Cynder, you could have saved him."

"No! She saved me from losing myself to you." He responded.

"You really think that? She just wants you to herself; she wants to keep us weak. Cynder doesn't like the fact that I am your true savior. The Guardians are also afraid of our power, they believe that we will become just like Malefor. That is why they shun the usage of convexity, but we will show them. We will show them that we will not become something like Malefor, but something greater."

"No, I won't give into that kind of power." Spyro said, stepping away from his darker version.

"Besides how desperately did you need me against your battle with Rai?" He asked.

"That was a long time ago, besides I'm pretty sure that I have grown stronger than him."

"Don't be modest about your strength. Say it like you're proud of being stronger than him. But that isn't the point I'm trying to make. You see during the battle I couldn't stand his bragging about how he is incorruptible. Everyone can be corrupted he just has a higher tolerance. If he could only see what we are capable of Spyro, his jealousy for you would grow even more." He said, stepping closer to Spyro. "Now Spyro let us become one."

Spyro stood still, watching his darker-self approach him. Dark Spyro stopped in front of Spyro, and stabbed him in the chest with his paw. Spyro felt no pain from the stabbing, instead he felt himself being filled with power. Spyro saw that he was absorbing his dark version.

"What did you do?" Spyro asked, finishing absorbing Dark Spyro.

"I went back to the place where I reside and that is within you." Spyro heard him say inside his head. "But since we're in your subconscious, I don't have to wait until you slowly give into the influence. I can take over immediately."

Spyro's eyes became wide open by the sudden comment. He began feeling his power increase; it was power that he did not want. His scales had started darkening, beginning with his left hind leg. It was quickly spreading.

"Stop this," he called out.

"Why would I do that? As much as you must hate to admit it, you like it."

* * *

><p>"Hey is that supposed to be happening to Spyro?" Ember asked, drawing attention to the purple dragon.<p>

Everyone looked at Spyro, and saw that his scales were darkening.

"This is why, we told him not to use convexity." Terrador said, approaching Spyro.

"What's happening?" Blair asked.

"It seems that Spyro is being tempted with power. We won't have to take any unnecessary actions if he is taken over by it, but if he accepts that kind of power, we will have to take other percussions."

"Resist it Spyro, I know that you can overcome the darkness." Cynder said, rubbing against Spyro's cheek.

* * *

><p>Spyro felt how powerful he was becoming, as much as he hated to admit it he felt unstoppable. With the kind of power that he had he could do anything. He could use this power to make sure that there was no longer any evil in the world, making peace last for eternity. It could even be used to protect his friends.<p>

"This power it feels good."

"I knew you would come around to it. Now just imagine if we became one, I wouldn't have to take over. We would have constant access to this kind of power."

"Spyro!" The purple dragon heard someone call his."Spyro, don't do it. You're better than this; you don't need to use that kind of power."

"Cynder?" Spyro said, coming out of the influence of convexity.

"Don't listen to her Spyro. She doesn't know what she is talking about." Dark Spyro said, trying to regain control over Spyro.

"No she's right I don't need this kind of power." Spyro began resisting the darkness that had made its way into his body. He began pushing back the black scales, returning them to their normal purple color. His power began to return to its normal level.

"Just know Spyro, that I will always be a part of you. I'll be there to do the things that you cannot." He said, staying in Spyro's subconscious as the purple dragon woke up.

Spyro slowly opened his eyes, feeling something rub against him he turned towards it. He saw that Cynder was comforting him.

"So it was you that I heard back there." He said, smiling at her.

"Yea, I saw that you needed help. So I figured that hearing my voice would help you with whatever you were dealing with."

"Thanks," he said, hugging the dark violet dragoness.

"Well it's good to see that Spyro was able to resist the influence of convexity." Volteer said.

"Now we just have those two left." Cyril said, referring to Blaze and Rai. I'm starting to wonder if those two will ever awaken."

"They only have thirty minutes left." Terrador said, reminding them of the time limit.


	20. Chapter 20

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>"So I wonder how I'm supposed to face my fear." Rai asked, walking around endlessly in the darkness.<p>

"So cocky, you act as if you already know what your fear is." A high pitched voice said from up above.

"Isn't it the fear that I will fail to protect my friends."

"We both know that, that one is a lie. If anything you use that fear as a cover up for your real one. Besides can you honestly tell me that you think of any of them as a true friend?"

"Yes," he said.

"Really, name them."

"The Guardians," Rai said.

"Really you name them first; you and I both know that they hate you. They don't trust you, they only see you as the dragon who attempted to take Spyro's life."

"Flame and his group," he said, trying to come up with more names.

"Three out of the four fear you, while Blaze outright hates you."

"Then what about Spyro," Rai was growing worried.

"He might see you as a friend, but we both know that the real you does not see him as that."

"Than what about Cynder?"

"Oh there is no doubt in my mind that you see her more than a friend, but can you honestly tell me that she thinks of you in the same way. You know that you have already lost her to another dragon, to Spyro."

"No, all of them are my friends regardless of what you say." Rai said, trying to not breakdown.

"You are in denial Rai; you are refusing to see the truth because you don't want to face the truth. The truth is what you are truly afraid of."

"Alright then go ahead tell me what I am afraid of." He said, growing restless with its constant teasing.

"You are afraid of being alone, that is why you obsess over being strong. So that no one will be able to take away your so called close ones. Because of this fear you have even become someone that you are not."

"What do you mean?" He asked, confused by what it was saying.

"You're pretending to be someone else so that they will accept you. After all who would ever accept your true self? You remember him don't you, Rai? The dragon you once were. The dragon that fought against, Spyro. Remember how easily you defeated Spyro by using hate as the source of your power instead of what you currently use, which is friendship."

"No that isn't me," he said, shaking his head.

"Alright then," the voice said, transforming itself into a solid figure. "I'll make sure that you accept your real self, and I'll also make sure your so called friends see who you really are." The voice had transformed itself into a dark red dragon. He was the same size as an elder dragon, and just as fierce.

"So you were a dragon all along."

"I'll show you just how weak and alone you truly are." The dragon said, flying towards Rai.

Rai closed his eye, and shifted to his battle stance. "Okay let's go," He opened his eyes, revealing that both had a red hue.

The two dragons met each other in the sky, and immediately started throwing punches at each other. Rai missed all of his, while the red dragon landed all of his. Rai decided to back away and use his elemental breath. He got away and opened his maw, releasing a lightning bolt. The red dragon dodged it, and made its way closer to Rai. Rai already had a backup plan; his fist was rapidly blinking a light blue color. As the dragon approached him, Rai threw a punch at its face. Rai made contact with the dragon's cheek; he had expected the dragon to yell out in pain. Instead the dragon began laughing.

"So soft," it said, before grabbing Rai's tail, and throwing him towards the ground. Rai was thrown with such power and speed; that he could not move or open his wings to soften the blow. He saw the ground approaching quickly; preparing himself for the landing he stiffened his body. But to his surprise the red dragon appeared in front of him. It delivered a kick striking Rai's chin. It directed Rai back towards the sky. His body was now horizontal, realizing that he could move again he began opening his wings.

"We're not done yet," He heard a voice behind him say. "Do you know that there are multiple dragon fighting styles? I guess you don't because after all, the Guardians would never tell you something about that. Well in case you want to experience one first hand, here we go. Dre Den Du Style."

"What?"

While they fell the red dragon hit both of Rai's wings with his paws, making them go limp. All Rai could do now was watch as the dragon destroyed him. The red dragon used his palm to strike at the silver dragon's back. Rolling around the grey dragon's back, he began striking at his side. He then delivered a gruesome kick to the dragon's stomach. Rai coughed up blood as the dragon continued assaulting him. The dark red dragon then elbowed the young dragon in the cheek. He then jabbed Rai in the throat with his palm, leaving Rai gasping for air in the process. He then delivered a final punch to the dragon's chest creating a small blast of force, sending the dragon hurtling towards the ground. Right before Rai, made contact with the ground, the blood red dragon landed on top of him.

"Dragon's end," he said, revealing the name of his deadly combo.

As they impacted the ground dust formed, sealing off the fighters from the outside world. All that could be heard from within the dust was the sound of fists punching against bare scales, and drops of blood hitting the ground.

* * *

><p>"I've been walking in this darkness for what seems like forever." Blaze said.<p>

"Well I'm sorry I took so long to get to you Blaze." A high pitched voice said from the distance, "I was busy with the others, and I'm currently busy with another dragon."

"So are you going to try torturing me now with your words?"

"Alright, then dragon let me think for a moment. Perhaps I could talk about something that happened in your past. Maybe how you feel responsible for letting your friends get captured by Daxaur's soldiers. But we both know that they have already helped you overcome that."

"My friends and I have already been through things that most creatures couldn't even imagine." Blaze said, walking through the darkness.

"Oh, I'm sure you have," the voice said, mocking the dragon. "But what if it were to happen to them again?"

Blaze stopped in his tracks.

"That's what you're afraid of isn't it? That one day your friends will have to endure all that suffering and torture once more."

"I would save them from it." He responded.

"Tell me Blaze, who was it that saved your friends from Daxaur?"

"It was Spyro, and I truly thank him for that. But if I had been given more time I would have saved them." Blaze said, fighting back against the voice's teasing.

"Would you save anyone from something like that, just as Spyro would?"

"Yes, because if I don't want it happening to my friends. Then it should happen to no one."

"Alright then let's put that to the test."

Blaze watched as the air in front of him began to crack like glass. Out of curiosity the fire dragon touched it with his talon, shattering the air in front of him. He stepped into the hole that he had made. He began looking around for anyone. A red dragon, smiling sadistically caught his eyes. It appeared to be holding something in its paw. While approaching the dragon, Blaze recognized the object that the dragon was holding. The dragon held in its paw a badly beaten Rai, covered in blood stains throughout his body.

"Hey don't lose consciousness yet, we have a guest." The dark red dragon said, whipping Rai's back with his tail.

"What did you do to him?" Blaze said, looking at all the injuries Rai had sustained.

"Isn't it obvious? I beat the crap out of him." The dragon said, lifting Rai higher up so that he could admire his work. "So now will you…"

Blaze whipped the dark red dragon across the side of his face with his tail, interrupting his sentence. The sudden attack made the dragon lose his grasp on Rai, dropping the grey dragon's body towards the ground.

"What the hell are you doing Blaze?" Rai said, struggling to remain conscious. "I never asked for you to save me so just get out of here."

"I know and I also don't like the fact that I'm saving you, but I am so you should be grateful. You should probably thank Spyro, and also that I wouldn't wish the beating you just received on anyone. Plus seeing a weakling like you in that shape is just sad."

Those last words shut the silver dragon up.

"You saved him even though you dislike him." The red dragon said.

"How many times am I going to repeat myself? I don't care who needs saving. I'll be there to help them." He responded.

"Alright then let's see if you can finish what he started." He said, rushing towards the dragon.

Blaze opened his maw, releasing a continuous flow of his fire breathe attack. The dark red dragon got hit with the attack, covered in flames the dragon flew out of the inferno. Blaze followed the dragon, continuing his assault on him with more of his fire breathe. The red dragon fell towards the ground covered in flames. Rai watched as Blaze was able to do what he could not, defeat the dark red dragon.

"Congratulations," the dragon said, hitting the ground. "You have passed, Blaze." The dragon's body turned to ash, leaving its perfectly intact skeleton behind.

"I hope you can overcome your fears, Rai." Blaze said, before disappearing.

* * *

><p>"You just barely made it."<p>

Blaze heard a voice say, as he woke up.

"What?" Blaze said.

"He means that you only had five minutes left." Blair said, answering the red-blue dragon's question.

"Well it looks like we will have to wake him up, Terrador." Cyril said.

"Not just yet he still has five minutes left."

* * *

><p>"Why was he able to beat you, and I wasn't?" Rai asked.<p>

"I already tolled you. It's because you draw your power from something that doesn't even exist."

Rai looked around for the sound of the voice; his eyes fell upon the dark red dragon's skeleton. Rai watched as it stood itself up, flying itself up into the air.

"You will never have that feeling of belonging, Rai." It mocked.

"I already belong somewhere; I belong in Warfang with my friends." He replied.

"The only reason they accept you there is because they need you there. They need you, but they don't want you there."

"No, I know you are lying they do want me there."

"There is a difference between want and need, something that you will soon come to comprehend. But for now our time is over, you have failed in conquering your fears. Just remember, you are alone."

* * *

><p>Rai awoke in the same room he had fallen, asleep in. He immediately tried to get up, but was restrained by the guardians.<p>

"Take it easy, Rai." Terrador said.

"Why, what happened?" He asked.

"You didn't finish the event within the time limit, so we were forced to wake you up." Volteer answered.

"Now just take it easy for a couple of hours." Cyril said, leaving the dragon behind as he followed his fellow guardians to the front of the room.

"Now, from what most of you have told us you all faced your fears. Now for some of you it was a bit questionable, but if it was enough for the dream to release you then it is enough for us. So Now I will announce what this means for all of you. First I will start out with Spyro and Cynder, the two of you proved that you are ready for what lies ahead. So the two of you are ready to become masters, you training will begin within a couple of months."

Spyro and Cynder congratulated each other on their success.

"As for Ember, Flame, and Blair, your training for the apprentice class will also begin in a couple of months, and when we decide that you are ready you can try out for the master class."

The three friends congratulated each other.

"Blaze you did the best out of anyone who participated not only did you overcome your fears, but you also took the time to help two of your peers deal with theirs. Because of this not only will you be training for the apprentice class, but immediately after you will start training for the master class."

Everyone except Rai congratulated Blaze.

"What about me?" Rai asked.

"We are sorry Rai," Terrador said. "You did not conquer your fears, nor did you wake up from the dream. Because of this we cannot advance you to the apprentice class."

"Alright, I understand." He said, standing up and walking towards the exit.

"Rai hold on." Spyro said, taking a step towards him.

"What is it?" He said, turning towards the dragon.

"I hope you're not mad because of what the Guardians decided. I'm sure that they will let you do the event again in the future." He said, trying to comfort him.

"I'll try to keep that in mind." Rai said, stepping out of the room. _It must be so easy for you Spyro; after all you passed the event. I know that they won't let me take it again; they were hoping that I would fail. Well I did and now they will do everything in their power to restrain me. I thought that my so called friends would have my back, but no. You all turned your backs on me, leaving me fending for myself. _

"_Just remember you are alone."_ The words from the dark red dragon remained within his mind.


	21. Chapter 21

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
><strong>

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><p>Several days after the dragons had participated in the event, Spyro had been called to the Guardians' main room.<p>

"You called for me." Spyro said, walking into their room.

"Yes," Terrador said. "We have something to tell you about your training that will take place next month."

"So are you going to tell me what I will be doing?"

"No, we called you hear to tell you a story." Volteer said.

"Who and what is this story about?" Spyro asked.

"It involves Ignitus and your predecessors." Terrador said, getting Spyro's attention.

"You see young dragon," Cyril said, beginning to tell the story. "Before you Ignitus took two dragons, around the same age as yourself, from the Fire Temple under his wing. During this time Malefor had not yet given into corruption, although he began showing signs of darkness. Ignitus picked these two dragons based on their personality and skills. Ignitus wanted students who were eager to learn, but at the same time that were not solely in it for themselves. Ignitus trained them to use their fire element."

"But these dragons were different." Volteer said, interrupting Cyril who was obviously annoyed by it. "They each possessed different forms of fire, much like Rai who possesses a different form of electricity. Because of this Ignitus had a difficult time teaching them, but he was eventually able to help them understand and master their abilities."

"So what happened afterwards?" Spyro asked.

"Well you see by the time that they had become adults, which age wise would be around 100 years old, they had made a name for themselves." Cyril said, continuing the story. "They had participated in various tournaments to test their abilities. The two were so fearsome that creatures began referring to them as Eternal Flame and Quantum Flare. For a while it seemed that these two had really prospered under Ignitus's teachings, but then came that faithful day. On the day that Malefor gave into corruption we tried to stop him from starting the war, but our efforts were futile. We began asking several creatures to participate in the war. Ignitus's students were some of the creatures that we went to first."

"Did they accept?"

"Unfortunately they did not, believing that the war was not worth their time. It seemed that back then anyone that could have made a difference in the war chose not to intervene. For some time we did not hear anything about those two. We began fearing that they had joined Malefor's side, but then the two of them were spotted by some of our soldiers. The four of us rushed towards their location and upon arriving, we saw the two of them fighting furiously against each other. This did not come as a surprise to Terrador, Volteer, and I. The three of us had always known that the two of them could not stand the sight of each other."

"What did Ignitus think of all this?"

"Ignitus knew about their hatred for each other, but he refused to acknowledge it." Volteer said, continuing the story for Cyril. "You see, Spyro, their rivalry stemmed from their constant urge to outdo the other. When one became stronger than the other, that dragon would immediately try to become stronger than the other. We were sure that one day they would take their rivalry too far, but Ignitus said that it was just a friendly rivalry. Even at the scene of their fight, Ignitus refused to believe in what they were doing. We knew that what they were doing at the moment was bad, but it wasn't until we took them in and further investigated that we discovered something. Through the investigation we had discovered that the two had committed the unforgivable sin."

"You must understand Spyro that we were busy with the war. Otherwise, we would have been more aware of their actions. After, discovering what they had done, Ignitus exiled them from Warfang and any other dragon populated locations. After, that he no longer considered them his students. On the day that they were exiled Ignitus vowed that he would never again take another dragon under his wing. But that all changed once he met you, Spyro," Terrador said, looking at the purple dragon. "He told me that he saw something in you that he had not seen in such a long time. He said that it would be different with you, because you did not care about power, but in helping others."

Spyro was beginning to get tears in his eyes from hearing what Ignitus had said about him. "He really thought about me like that?"

"Oh yes, he bragged about you all the time when you were not around." Volteer said.

"It makes me happy, knowing that I was able to make Ignitus proud. But I can't help asking, what ever happened to those two dragons?"

"We never saw them again after that. We believe that they are wondering around out there in the world. That is everything that we have to tell you young dragon, you may leave now."

Spyro walked out of the Guardians' room, and went to go look for his friends.

"Cyril, you and Volteer must go on that mission that I have arranged for you." Terrador said, addressing the two dragons.

* * *

><p>Rai walked across the outside of the dragon temple. He had not stopped thinking about how he could not conquer his fears. He had been told by the voice that he had been pretending to be someone else. That he was not being who he really was in fear that his friends would not accept him. Rai believed that the voice was lying to him at the time, because most of what he had been told had to have been a lie. Of course the fact that the dragon defeated him without even trying was actually having a larger effect on him. Especially due to the fact that Blaze had quickly defeated the dragon, Rai had convinced himself that he had weakened it, giving Blaze the chance to finish off the dragon.<p>

Even though he had shaken the first two things off, he had yet to do the same for the final thing that he had been told. The voice had said that he had created a supposed fake image, because he was afraid of being alone. This was true, and for the whole time that he had been with his friends he had yet to abandon this feeling. He still felt alone, and unwanted.

_Maybe it was right, and I really don't think of them as my friends._ Rai thought, but then quickly tried to convince himself otherwise. _No, they are my friends and no matter what it said I think of all of them in that way._

"Hey, Rai!"

The silver dragon froze at the sound of his name, turning around he saw that Blair was flying down towards him.

"What are you doing here Blair?" Rai asked.

"Oh, I'm supposed to be meeting your best friend here." Blair replied.

"And just who would that be?" Rai asked, trying to figure out who she could be talking about.

"Blaze," she responded, giggling a bit from Rai's facial reaction.

"Yea, that's really funny Blair, but in case you haven't noticed. We can't stand the sight of each other."

"I'm sure you two could get along if only you would both put your huge egos aside. So has your attitude improved?" She said.

"What attitude?"

"I'm referring to the fact that you've been acting all depressed since you were told that you can't advance to the next class. I want to try cheering you up." She said, smiling at the dragon.

"Thanks, but I just want to be alone for now." He said, continuing to walk.

"Hold on," she said, stepping in front of Rai. "It isn't a big deal what the Guardians did; I mean what's so important about advancing. I mean what would you, need to prove by getting stronger."

"Yea, what would I need to prove?" Rai said angrily, spinning around to walk in the other direction. He did not pay attention to what he was doing, and hit Blair across the face with his tail.

"Blair, are you alright? I'm so sorry it was an accident." He said, rushing over towards her to make sure that she was alright.

"It's no big deal," she said, putting a paw over her cheek. "How bad is it?"

"It's a bit bruised, but it looks like it won't be permanent."

"What the hell did you do to her?!" They heard a voice shout. A red and blue scaled dragon landed in front of the two. "Get the hell away from her!" Blaze said.

"Hold on Blaze he didn't mean to do this." Blair said, trying to calm him down.

"I saw everything; he slapped you across the face with his tail."

"It was an accident I didn't mean to do it." Rai said.

"I'll show you an accident," Blaze said, punching Rai in his snout. "Now that was an accident."

"Damn it, are we really going to do this? Because you better believe that I've been waiting a long time to put you in your place." Rai said, shaking off Blaze's punch.

"Rai, no stop it." Blair said, trying to calm him down.

"You, put me in my place? Please if we fight you'll just end up a bloody mess just like before. And this time there won't be anyone to save your sorry life."

"Blaze don't fight him, it was an accident."

"Sorry Blair, but I can't let him go around hitting other dragonesses like that, and especially not you." Blaze crouched down, getting ready to fight. He saw his opponent do the same. Blair realized that there was nothing she could do or say that would stop them from fighting. She stepped aside and waited for the battle to begin. Unknown to them, the fight between the two dragons will commence a series of events that will cause the first phase of a dark plan to be completed.


	22. Chapter 22

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
><strong>

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><p>Blaze was the first to attack, having the most anger within him. He jumped towards the grey dragon; spinning around in the air Blaze whipped his tail at Rai's head. Rai summersaulted under the fire dragon, dodging the incoming attack, and kicked Blaze while he was still in the air. Blaze flew sideways across the field. He flew back towards Rai, and began swinging his claws rapidly at him. Rai walked backwards, dodging his claws. Most of the swipes the lightning dragon was able to dodge, but some found their mark, deciding he had enough Rai jumped backwards. Rai had received several cuts along his chest and face, but shook them off as minor injuries.<p>

He ran at Blaze, kicking him in the stomach once he was within reach. The fire dragon stood his ground, following with a punch towards Rai's snout that found its mark. Rai shocked by the sudden attack lost his balance. Blaze noticed this, and swung his tail at Rai's legs, tripping the dragon. Blaze continued his assault while Rai was down on the floor, but got hit with Rai's back paws. Rai used the opportunity to pick himself off the ground. Rai clenched his fist, making it blink rapidly with lighting. He looked across, and saw that his opponent was blowing fire into his own fist.

"Let's see whose is stronger." Blaze said, aiming his right fist towards Rai. "Fire Element: Fire Fist"

They clashed their attacks, testing each other's strength. Blair looked on as the two struggled against each other, trying to get the advantage over the other. Rai saw that their clash was going nowhere, and decided to redirect his attack towards Blaze's face. Blaze, taking notice, also redirected his fist towards Rai's chest. As Rai's fist made contact with Blaze's face, the red-blue dragon began to feel instant pain. When Blaze's fist hit Rai's chest, the fire spread across his chest. Both attacks had found their target sending both of them flying back. The two quickly got back up on their four limbs.

"Let's see how you like this," Blaze said. "Fire Element: Fire Breath," he opened his maw releasing a large amount of wild fire at Rai.

The lightning dragon saw the incoming attack, deciding not to confront it he flew up towards the sky. Blaze quickly followed him upwards towards the sky. The two dragons began attacking each other physically as they flew across the sky. By taking their fight towards the sky the dragons were attracting the city's attention. Citizens of Warfang began looking up towards the sky, watching the two dragons attack each other furiously. It was not long until the sky caught the attention of a red-orange scaled dragon.

"Blaze? Rai? Why are they fighting against each other?" Flame said, taking flight. "We're supposed to be comrades not enemies. I've got to go find Spyro." He flew off in search of the purple dragon.

"Had enough Blaze?" Rai asked, dodging the fire dragon's attacks.

"Yea, I have of all your constant whining of how weak you are." Blaze said, kicking the dragon across the sky. "I'll finish you with this Fire Element: Fire Ball," he said, releasing a medium sized fire ball from his mouth.

"We'll see about that," Rai said, releasing a lightning bolt from his maw.

The two projectiles met each other in the air, their strength equal. This resulted in both attacks blowing up midair. Blaze waited patiently for the smoke to clear, but had no time to react when he was hit by Rai's attack. Blaze was being hit by a steady stream of lightning that was traveling all over his body. As the smoke cleared he saw that Rai had used his lighting breath, and was now attacking him with a stream of lightning. Through the pain Blaze could tell that something had changed about Rai, his eyes were different. His left one had a red highlight while his right one had a dark purple highlight to it. The grey dragon ended his attack, leaving Blaze with several cuts and burns throughout his body. The fire dragon could barely keep himself afloat.

"Are you wondering how I hit you through the smoke?" Rai asked, flying in front of the dragon to admire his work. "If you haven't noticed by now my eyes have changed, when they're like this I get several abilities. One of which allows me to pick up on details that one would normally not see. I was able to locate you through very small holes that were in the smoke."

Blaze punched Rai across his face, "I never asked you to explain anything to me. Does it look like I give a damn about anything that relates to you? Now take this," he said, increasing some distance between the two. Blaze blew fire above him and flew through it, emerging with his wings on fire. The fiery wings had a dark red tint to them. "Fire Body Element Technique: Blazing Wings."

_A Fire dragon's body should not able to do that. Their body is resistant enough to cover small parts like their fist, but not entire body parts._ Rai thought, watching Blaze's attack in motion. Blaze flew towards Rai faster than usual; the technique was giving him a speed boost. As he flew across the sky, his wings were setting the sky itself on fire. Blaze was leaving behind large fire streaks across the sky. Rai saw that he could not dodge, since Blaze would just follow him. The lightning dragon decided to use his wings as protection. He covered himself with his wings in order to decrease the attack's effectiveness.

Blaze's left wing flew through Rai, creating a fire slash across the dragon's wings that traveled through his body. The citizens witnessed in awe at how Blaze's wings had cut across the lightning dragon. Blaze was flying across from behind Rai; the fire had been extinguished from his wings. Rai began falling towards the ground, leaving Blaze to watch the descending dragon. It gave Blaze the opportunity to see the damage that he had dealt. Both of Rai's wings had a burnt slash going across them, matching the burns that ran across his chest and back. He most likely had received internal injuries as well. Blaze guessed that the attack had done more damage than he attended. He never thought that it would have gone through him like that. Rai landed on top of a tall building, cracking the roof.

"Who was the weak one again?" Blaze asked, landing on the building.

"You," Rai said, standing up with his fist blinking with lightning.

Blaze blew fire on his fist again, and collided with Rai's fist once more.

"I'm impressed that attack should have ended it, but I can see that you are still in great pain. The only thing still keeping you going is your damn stubbornness." Blaze said, pushing Rai's fist back. "But it looks like you're at the end of your rope, because I'm winning our little struggle."

Blaze continued to push Rai's fist back, fire had begun to spread onto the latter's fist. Rai cringed as he felt his fist burn. Blaze was sure that one hit from his fist and the fight would end. He was so focused on getting through Rai's fist that he had not noticed what was going on. Just as he was about to break through, Blaze was hit across the face by Rai's right fist, which had become infused with lighting.

"But, how?" He said, falling backwards.

"I did something that only electric dragons are able to do. Transfer the flow of our attacks." Rai said, showing Blaze his burned left fist. "You were winning the struggle because I had transferred the lighting over to my other hand."

"Smart, but," Blaze said, blowing fire on the tip of his tail. "It didn't affect me as much as my wing attack did on you. Now take this Fire Element: Fire Tail Whip." He whipped his fiery tail at Rai, hitting him across his forelegs. The hit made the dragon rely on his hind legs. Blaze extinguished the fire on his tail, and stepped towards the dragon.

"Stop it you two, friends don't treat each other like this."

* * *

><p>Spyro and Cynder were in the dragon temple training with each other. They were unaware of the commotion that had been occurring outside.<p>

"Wow you've gotten a lot better," Cynder said, complimenting the dragon.

"Thanks, and you've gotten a lot better as well Cynder." He said, making the violet dragon blush.

"Spyro, come quick." Flame said, entering the training room. "They're fighting against each other Spyro, and it's not friendly sparring. I think that they actually mean to kill each other."

"Calm down flame. First off can you tell us who you're talking about?" Cynder asked.

"Blaze and Rai, they're fighting to the death out there."

Upon hearing the dragon's statement the three dragons flew off in search of Blaze and Rai.

* * *

><p>Blaze and Rai turned towards the voice that they had just heard. They saw that a pink scaled dragoness was on the same building that they were fighting on.<p>

"There are better ways of solving an argument." Ember said, trying to calm the two dragons down.

"No, he deserves this for hitting Blair. Besides I can't stand him. If he feels so weak, then he should do something about it. How about training some more; instead of whining about it."

"Is it true Rai? Did you hit Blair?" Ember asked.

"It was an accident." He replied, "I tried, but Blaze wouldn't listen. But I don't mind this fight at all and neither does he, because I finally get to prove that compared to me he's trash." He said, grinning madly at Blaze.

"I always knew that the two of you didn't like each other, but I always thought of your feud as a rivalry. I'm sure that all of us saw it that way. To think, that the two of you had this much dislike for each other."

"I'm sorry that you have to see us like this Ember, but I hope you know that there is nothing that you can do now. So please get out of here, I don't want you getting caught in the cross fire." Blaze said, looking at the pink scaled dragoness.

"No you are wrong Blaze there is something that I can do. I can get in the way, and interfere with your fight." She said, stepping in between the two dragons.

"Instead of getting yourself killed by doing this," Blaze said. "Why don't you go and find Spyro."

"No, I won't leave you guys."

"But if anyone can stop this it is him."

Even though she did not want to leave her friends in this state, Blaze was right. Spyro was the only one who could convince them to stop, and if he could not do it through words. Then he would have to do it through force, which she was sure that Spyro would not resort to.

"Please just stop this." She said, flying off.

"I guess you aren't such a bad guy after all." Rai said.

"Of course not you'll actually find that I'm…" Blaze was caught off by Rai, kicking him up towards the sky.

"Let's see if this works, after all I've only seen this once. Hopefully, that's all it takes to copy an attack." Rai said, hitting both of Blaze's wings as they fell towards the rooftop.

The red dragon cringed in pain from the blows to his wings. Rai used his palms to strike at Blaze's back with tremendous force. The grey dragon then rolled around to Blaze's side, delivering a kick to the dragon's stomach. He then proceeded to elbow Blaze in the face, following up with a stab to the throat. The fire dragon was left gasping for air as Rai punched him in the chest, sending him towards the ground. Blaze saw himself descending towards the ground, he tried to open his wings, but it was no use. Right before he was about to hit the ground, he saw Rai appear in front of him.

"Dragon's end," He said, whipping his tail at Blaze's chest with tremendous force. The tail made contact at the same time that Blaze hit the floor, sending the fire dragon crashing down into the building. Rai waited for the fire dragon to fly out of the building, but it soon became clear to him that Blaze was not getting up. "I won, I guess you really were the weakest in the group."

"No, we're not done yet." Blaze said, crawling back on top of the building.

"Damn, it! That's it no more games." Rai said, flying up towards the sky. "I'm about to show you what I learned over the course of a month."

"You learned one little attack over that time period." Blaze said, "All the attacks you've seen from me during this battle I developed during that one month."

"Well they're nothing compared to this one attack." He said, putting his hands together.

_He must be preparing his strongest attack._ Blaze thought to himself, _I guess I'll have to ready mines as well. I'm sorry Blair I promised that I would never use this attack unless it was for something important. But trust me it is, it's for you. _

"Fire Element: Heat Compact Blast," He said, opening his maw. He began letting fire out of his maw, but it began doing something odd. Just a few inches away from him, the fire was forming itself into a small ball. Blaze continued fueling the small sphere with fire, and no matter how much fire he put into the small sphere it did not grow. The fire was being compacted into the small ball. The small sphere was slowly changing from a red-yellow color to a light orange one. Blaze still needed more time for his attack, and was thankful that his opponent's was taking just as long. He took a glance at Rai, and saw that his left arm had lighting traveling all over it. He had what looked like a concentration of lighting at the base of his paw. He guessed that it was the source of its power. Then to his surprise Rai, began moving towards the fire dragon.

_Damn I still need more time for the attack to be ready, if I get lucky it'll be done just as he makes it to the rooftop._ He thought, watching Rai drag his arm across the sky.

"Up there Spyro," Ember said.

Spyro looked up towards the sky, and saw Rai flying towards Blaze with the same attack that had killed Cyrus. He then looked over towards Blaze, who was blowing fire into a light-orange object.

"Stop it you two." He said, flying towards them.

Both dragons heard his voice, but paid him no attention. Rai was now a couple of feet away from Blaze, and was getting even closer.

_There it's done,_ Blaze thought, smiling from his accomplishment. Just as he was a couple of inches away Rai began bringing his arm forward, but was stunned as a shockwave released from the light-orange ball that Blaze had in front of him. Blaze released all the energy that had been collected in the small fiery ball, sending a blast towards Rai. The linear attack enveloped the lightning dragon. Blaze's attack kept on going, reaching the clouds where it eventually disappeared.

Spyro finally reached the rooftop, and looked over towards Blaze who looked stunned. He looked over towards Rai, and immediately understood why Blaze was looking the way he was. Rai stood a couple of inches away from Blaze. His scales were all completely burned up, exposing his muscles underneath the burnt scales. The dragon was still standing, refusing to collapse unto the ground.

"I guess you win, you were right I am the weakest." He said, collapsing on the ground.


	23. Chapter 23

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
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><p>Rai slowly opened his eyes, and rose out of the bed he had been laying in. He felt something tug at his arm, as he got up. He saw that a small tube was attached to his arm. The tube was injecting red gems that had been liquefied into his bloodstream. He pulled it out, walking towards the exit and out of the room. He walked out of the infirmary wing of the temple, and made his way towards the outside of the temple. He continued walking alongside the road that led to the temple, stopping only to stare at a pond that was at the side of the road. He looked at the water, and in it saw his image. The wounds that he had suffered during the battle were all completely healed. There were no scars or bruises that would remind him of the fight. He guessed that Ember had healed any permanent injuries that he might have suffered.<p>

He turned around, and kept walking deeper into the city. As he was about to leave the temple's boundaries he heard laughter. He looked over towards his side, and saw that Spyro, Cynder, Ember, Flame, Blair, and even Blaze were all hanging out. Rai tried his best to keep out of site from them. He did not want to be seen by them. Quietly he snuck further into the city. He walked through the city, ignoring the other citizens. He silently kept to himself.

_They were all together, they probably didn't even care about what had happened to me. Do they really not care what happens to me? What's this feeling that I have? Is it loneliness? Is it the feeling of not belonging?_ _Is it the feeling of not being wanted? No the truth is that I've always felt like that. Since I lost to Blaze, the one dragon that I considered the weakest in our group, they no longer have a reason to be with me. This feeling is what it feels like to not be wanted. _He thought to himself walking towards an abandoned alley.

"If I had damaged Blaze the way he damaged me, I would have actually gotten punished." Rai said, swinging his tail angrily at the ground.

Unknown to Rai, he was being followed by four mysterious shadows. The figures were bipedal; each had their faces covered by the dark brown hood that they wore. They had been silently tracking the grey dragon through the city.

"That's the one right?" A feminine voice asked.

"Yes, he fits the description." A male voice said, "We will wait until he is out of the public to make our move."

Rai walked deeper into the alley still deep in thought. _Why didn't I go up to them, and at least attempt to hang out with them? I could have showed them that I still want to be with them. I could have let them know how I felt about each of them. Instead I decided to ignore the problem, but in a way I can't help feeling that there is something more to this. Maybe what that dragon said is true; I don't see them as my friends._

"I wouldn't have to think about this if I had just been strong enough. Then they would have had a reason to still need me." He said, letting out his frustration.

"If power is what you need, then why not come with us." A deep voice said behind the dragon.

Rai turned around and saw that four figures had appeared behind him. He could not tell who they were, but judging from their figures and paws. He guessed that they were cheetahs. "Who are you?"

"If you must know we are a group that has been hired to find you. Our client whom does not wish to be revealed told us to locate and offer you a deal. He has been keeping an eye on you, and has witnessed several of your actions. He believes that there is untapped potential within you." One of the figures said.

"What kind of deal?" Rai asked.

"He said that he would give you strength, and not the type of strength that many in the past have lied to you about. He promised that if you let him train you that he would teach you everything about your powers. He would not limit you like others in fear of what you might do with all the power that you obtain. Finally, he said that he would reveal secrets about the type of dragon that you really are."

"Tell your client that as tempting as that might be, I would rather stay here and train with my friends."

"He said that we could use force to convince you." One of them said, stepping away from the group and closer to the dragon.

"What makes you think that a cheetah can beat a dragon?" Rai said, smiling.

"If I win you come with us."

"Even if by some miracle you do win I'm not coming with you." He said.

"Oh I'm sure that the embarrassment from being beaten by someone you believe to be inferior to you will be enough." He said, running at the dragon.

Rai swiped at the feline with his talons, but the hooded figure rolled under the dragon. The figure pulled out a dagger, and stabbed the dragon in the arm. Rai felt his magical energy drained from him. He then felt a second dagger push against his throat.

"Move and it goes through your neck." The figure said.

"Just kill me, I don't want to live anymore. Not if I can't even protect myself anymore." Rai said.

"I could do that or I could lead you to power. Follow us and you will see what you are truly capable of."

"Can you give me some time to think?" Rai said.

"Tell you what it's getting dark, find us tomorrow at sunrise. We will be waiting at the entrance to Warfang." The four figures left as darkness filled the city.

* * *

><p>Rai spent the rest of the night contemplating on what his next actions should be. He listed the benefits of both staying and leaving Warfang. In all that contemplating he found that something always stood out, one dragon always made it worth it to stay. He flew into the sky in search of that particular dragon. It did not take long before he found the dragon. He found her sitting alone on the outside of the temple. He flew down towards her.<p>

"Hey Cynder," he said.

"Rai, you are all healed. You really should not have let your anger get the better of you. The two of you did a lot of damage to Warfang." She said, scolding the dragon.

"I know, but it wasn't my fault." He said.

"It doesn't matter whose fault it was. What matters is that the two of you could have gotten someone killed." She said.

"I know, but that's not what I came here to talk to you about." The grey dragon sighed, getting ready to reveal his feelings towards her. "Cynder have you ever felt strongly about another dragon, but you were too afraid to tell them how you felt in fear that they might reject you?"

"Sure I could think of one particular dragon that I have strong feelings for." She replied.

"Well would you tell them how you felt if you were having a hard time deciding something, and your decision depended on whether or not they had the same feelings for you as you had for them?" He said, looking intensely into her emerald eyes.

"Well it depends on what I was having such a hard time deciding."

For a moment Rai contemplated on telling her. If he told her what it was, then if she did reject his feelings then she would figure out that he was planning on leaving.

"Let's just say that the decision that they made would change their life completely. One would be the one thing that they truly wanted, and the other they would only choose because of that special dragon." He replied.

"Well if that were the case then sure I would tell them, I mean if he didn't return my feelings at least I would know that there would be something out there better waiting for me. But why are you so curious about this all of a sudden?" She asked.

"I asked you all of this, because I wanted to know whether or not I should tell you, and I've finally decided that I'm going to take a chance."

"Take a chance on what?" She asked.

"You don't know how beautiful you look under the light of the moon." He said, making the violet dragoness blush. "Cynder I've known you for such a long time, and ever since we were young I've always had this strange feeling whenever we were together. It stayed with me when we were separated. The feeling tormented me through my captivity. It wasn't until I found you again, and got to spend time with you that I finally realized what that feeling was."

"What was it?" She asked.

"It was love Cynder. I'm in love with you. I love everything about you. From the way that you don't let what others think about you affect you to the way that you overcome every obstacle in your way. I love the way you get annoyed so easily over the simplest of things, but at the same time you can be so carefree. When I'm with you Cynder, I don't feel alone."

Cynder was silent; the dragoness was taking in everything she had just heard. She always knew that Rai acted differently towards her, than he did towards everyone else. She also could not doubt that she had always felt some sort of connection with the grey dragon, but it was not the same type of connection that she felt with someone else.

"I know what you want me to say Rai, but the truth is for the moment I don't think that I can tell you that I love." She said, letting the dragon down easy. "I know that you're probably wondering why, and the reason is because I'm waiting for someone else. And until I know exactly how he feels about me, then I will be able to tell you how I feel."

"You mean that not until Spyro says he loves you. Not until then will you tell me the one thing that you are dreading him to say. That he doesn't feel the same way, because then you would feel pain. The same pain, which you are trying to protect me from." The dragon said, turning around from her.

"No, Rai it's not that. I'm just confused at the moment, because somehow I think that he loves me too. It wouldn't be fair to pick you over him just because you had the courage to tell me first."

"Your right you should wait. Especially since he did the one thing that I could not, protect you from the darkness. Where I failed he succeeded. How could you ever love a dragon that couldn't even protect you from a monster?"

"No, you're wrong that's not what I would ever base my decision on."

"Even if that is true, as long as Spyro is in your life I will never have a chance with you. Goodbye Cynder." He said, flying off. The violet dragon watched as her childhood friend flew away, with a broken heart.

* * *

><p>Four shadowy figures waited at the entrance to Warfang. The sun was beginning to rise, replacing the moon which was disappearing from the sky.<p>

"It's getting late. Do you think he's coming?" One of the figures asked.

"Yes, he'll have too. After, stabbing him I felt something from him. It was as if he was finally accepting himself. But I felt that there was still one thing still holding him back from accepting himself. If he can't let that one thing go then no matter what kind of training he goes through, that dragon will still remain the same way he is. He needs to embrace who he truly is and leave behind the fake personality he has taken up."

"Well it looks like he has decided to do just that." One of the figures said, pointing at the approaching dragon.

Rai walked towards the four cheetahs. He had spent the whole night wondering what he should do. After his talk with Cynder he had made his decision.

"Alright, lead the way." Rai said.

The head cheetah smiled, and led the group out of the city. Rai left the city, taking with him nothing except for Cynder's bracelet and tear stained scales.


	24. Chapter 24

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
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><p>Later that day Spyro was searching the hospital wing for Rai, but he could find no trace of him. After his fight with Blaze, Spyro was sure that he would still be recovering. He asked around and no one in that part of the building could tell him where he was. He decided to go ask the Guardians if they knew anything about his whereabouts. Spyro entered the Guardians' main room, but instead of finding all three of them there he found Hunter talking to Terrador.<p>

"I see well I will have to tell the two of them about this soon." Terrador said, responding to Hunter.

"Excuse me Terrador," Spyro said, politely getting the dragon's attention. "But do you know where Rai might be?"

"Uh, Spyro," Terrador said, surprised by the dragon's sudden appearance. "I was just about to call for you."

"It is nice to see you again Spyro." Hunter said, greeting the young dragon.

"Yea, it's great seeing you again Hunter." Spyro replied, smiling at the cheetah. "Why would you want to see me, Terrador?"

"I'll explain in a little while. Hunter, could you go and get Cynder for me?"

"Yes, sir," He said, exiting the room in search of Cynder.

Spyro did not know what Terrador would want to talk to him and Cynder about. He guessed that it might be about their future training, but another reason was slowly forming in his mind. Spyro could not shake the strange feeling that had been forming since he woke up. He felt that something bad had happened that he was not aware of, and somehow he was in the middle of it. Spyro was deep in thought and failed to notice Hunter walk in with Cynder.

"Alright, now we can begin." Terrador said, walking forward in front of the three creatures. "This might come as some sort of shock to the two of you, but to be quite honest I knew this day would come. From the first time Cyril, Volteer, and myself saw him, we knew that he did not belong here. Spyro, Cynder I'm sorry. I knew how much you two cared about him, but it appears that he did not. This morning Rai left Warfang."

It took a moment for Spyro to take in what he had just been told. "Well I'm sure he just wanted to explore outside of the city, or maybe he wanted to train in solitude. You know how much he likes being alone. He'll be back later today." Spyro said, giving a reason for Rai's actions.

"I'm sure that might have been the case Spyro, but Hunter here saw him leave with four other creatures." Terrador said.

"What?" Spyro replied.

"Yesterday I noticed four creatures acting strangely. So I began to follow them throughout the city, but at some point I lost track of them. I spent the rest of the day searching for them, but eventually stopped and decided to try again tomorrow morning. I got up around sunrise so that I could have more time to search for them, and hopefully catch them off guard. I found them at the city's entrance, talking to Rai. I was about to approach them, but then they began walking away out of the city. Before they left one of them must have noticed me, because he turned towards me and smiled. Then they left heading east of the city."

"That still doesn't prove that he's leaving forever." Spyro said, defending his brother's actions.

"You must understand Spyro that the creatures he left with are not allies. Even though they had been wearing hooded cloaks, each of them had a patch somewhere on that cloak. The patch had a special emblem. The emblems design was that of a cheetah skull, with three vertical claw scratches going across it and three others doing the same on the other side."

"So what does that mean?"

"First off you must understand that only cheetah's of certain tribes wear emblems. It is a way for them to show what kind of tribe they are. The type of emblem that those four were wearing shows that they specialize in mercenary work. Rai left with four mercenary cheetahs so I am sure that he left with no intentions of coming back." Hunter said, finishing his explanation.

"Now that you've heard that he has left with dangerous creatures that are not afraid to take a life. We have no choice, but to treat him the same way. He is now an enemy of ours." Terrador said.

"Well maybe he was forced to go with them. Maybe they were going to do something horrible to the city that he had no other option." Spyro said.

"I wish that this were true Spyro, but I do not believe that this is the case. I do not doubt that he might have had some sort of motivation from the four cheetahs, but it does not change the fact that he left with potential enemies."

"No he wouldn't do that." He said, looking over towards Cynder. "Right, Cynder?" He said, hoping to get some encouragement from Cynder, but instead the violet dragoness remained silent. Spyro saw that she was holding back tears. "So are we just going to let him go like this? What if he wants us to come after him? I refuse to believe that he left of his own free will?"

"Calm down young dragon, as much as I would like to help you I can't. If you haven't noticed already both Cyril and Volteer are absent at the moment. The two are currently on an errand for me, so we are a little short on dragons that can defend this city. Otherwise I could take the two of you with me in search of Rai." Terrador replied.

"Defend the city from what? All the danger is out there and I refuse to leave him to fend for himself out there."

"Yes and that is why you must stay here it is too dangerous for you to go out there."

"I'm sorry Terrador, but you have no right to say that. You kept on sending me to stop Malefor from being released, and once he was I was sent to go and stop him. If anything that was more dangerous than this. The only reason I kept going was because it was my duty as the purple dragon, and I did not want to see anybody get hurt. That's how I feel about this. It's my duty as a friend to go after him, keeping him from getting hurt." Spyro said, walking out of the room. "I'll go after him alone if I have to."

"Hold on young dragon," Terrador said, getting Spyro's attention before he left the room. "Even if I cannot come with you, you have my permission to take others with you that are willing to help. You can take four other dragons with you, but there safety falls on your paws young dragon."

"Thank, you." He said, walking out of the room. Spyro walked along the hallway thinking of who he would ask to join him on his journey. He had made it to the end of the hallway when he heard the sound of talons hitting the ground. He turned around and saw that Cynder was running up towards him. She had acted strange all throughout the meeting he guessed that she might know the true reason why Rai left.

"Spyro I need to talk to you about something." She said, refusing to make eye contact with the dragon.

"What is it Cynder?"

"I know why he left, Spyro. It was because of me it was because of something that I said to him." She said, fighting back the tears that were forming in her eyes. "I can't tell you what I said to him, because I don't think that he would want me to talk to you about our conversation. But please believe me that I didn't think that it would cause him to do this. He was waiting for me to give him a different reply, and when I didn't it must have broken him. I'm so stupid for not realizing it at that moment. I'm so sorry Spyro, this is my entire fault."

"There is no reason to apologize Cynder, I'm sure that it wasn't because of what you said that he left. Everyone thought that he was still healing yesterday, but if he took the time to talk to you then it was because he needed you. I'm sure that he had already made up his mind on leaving with them, but he took the time to talk to you. Probably because he wanted your help, I think that he actually wanted to stay, but whatever they said to him caused him to choose them. He was reaching out to you for help."

"And I failed him Spyro," she said with tears streaming down her face. "I failed him Spyro, I couldn't help him in his time of need."

"Don't think about it that way. Just think about how out of all the creatures in this city he chose you. Out of all of them he chose to talk to you. If anything you can save him Cynder, so how about you come along with me and together we will bring him back."

"Thank you Spyro, you always have the ability to bring a smile to my face." She said, distancing herself from the dragon. "But I can't accept that offer, I feel like I'm the last person that he would want to see at the moment. But please bring him back; he deserves to see just how much we all care about him." She said, flying off.

Spyro stood silently in place thinking about what she had said. At first he really did not understand why she would refuse, but then he knew that with her there Rai might act more hostile. So he decided to go and search for four other dragons, dragons that he already had in mind.

* * *

><p>"So, I know that I'm asking a lot from you guys. Especially from you Blaze considering what happened between the two of you. But can you guys come with me, and help me get him back?" Spyro said, finishing his explanation to them on his current dilemma.<p>

"You know I'm in," Flame said, walking up to the purple dragon's back.

"I'll go too. In case any of you get hurt, I'll be able to heal you." Ember said, walking up to Spyro's other side.

"Thanks guys," Spyro said, smiling at the two. He then looked across at Blaze and Blair. "You know you guys don't have to come if you don't want to."

"Save it Spyro I'll go, but only because I still owe you from giving us back our freedom." Blaze said, stepping over to the group.

"I'll also go, because someone has to make sure that this one doesn't get into trouble." She said, referring to Blaze.

"Alright, let's go." He said, opening his wings. "Considering that he left with cheetahs, I'm pretty confident that we will catch up to them if we fly. Even if Rai might be flying, he still has to fly at their speed, and most likely the four of them will be running."

The five dragons took off, heading eastward.


	25. Chapter 25

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
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><p>The four cheetahs ran through the forest with Rai following them from above the Sky. They had not stopped traveling since the morning they left. The four of them were taking Rai to the location that their client had told them to meet him at. Sure they had traveled a great distance, but they were barely half way to their location. If they could fly like Rai, they would have already gotten there. A gust of wind swept by the four felines, taking in the scent of the wind they all realized something.<p>

"We're being followed." A deep voice said.

"Yes, and as luck would have it they're dragons." One of them spoke in a whiny voice.

"They noticed that he was gone sooner than expected." The female cheetah said.

"Rai," there leader called out, getting the dragon's attention. "It seems that some unexpected dragons are approaching us. They'll be here soon, and I'm sure that they are coming to take you back."

Rai remained silent. He had heard what the cheetah had said, but he did not want to acknowledge it. He wondered who was coming after him, thinking that no one would even care about him leaving. He did not believe that anybody was coming for him.

"I hope you understand that if they are coming for you, we will have no choice but to stop them. That means that we might even have to kill them."

Rai still gave no response; instead he kept on flying forward. The five of them had made it onto an open clearing in the forest. It was then that the four cheetahs witnessed five dragons approaching them from behind. The five kept on going, trying to make it to the other side of the forest before the dragons made contact with them. Their leader saw that they would not be able to get to the other side in time without doing something.

"Rai, get lower to the field. If you keep on flying high up then they might ambush you. So get down here with us." Rai followed his instructions.

"Mai and Rex, get ready because as soon as they're an arm's length from us separate two of them. Separate them so that the three of us have a better chance of escaping. Then I want the two of you to fight against the two that you separated."

"Rai, come back." They heard one of the dragons call out.

The five of them were quickly approaching the cheetahs. They began flying closer to the ground until they were just above it. It was then that Spyro saw two of the cheetahs turn around and jump at two of his allies. The three remaining dragons turned around, and saw that the two cheetahs had knocked down two of their allies.

"Let's keep on going Spyro," Blaze said, trying to stop Spyro from helping the two dragons. "Flame and Ember knew what they were getting themselves into. They are doing this for you, so let's keep on going we're losing Rai."

"Alright," Spyro said, continuing onward into the second half of the forest.

"Well look at what we got here Rex. Two dragons separated from their group, and now it looks like they will pay dearly for it." The female cheetah said, stepping closer to them.

"We're not afraid of you." Flame said, getting up from the ground.

"Well it looks like someone is asking for it." Rex said, taking hold of the large hammer on his back. The cheetah ran towards Flame with the hammer held firmly in between both his paws.

Rex ran up to the young dragon, and swung the hammer down on the dragon. Flame sidestepped, avoiding the hammer's brutal blow. He jumped into the air and opened his maw, covering the cheetah in flames. Rex rolled out of the fire covered in flames. Flame and Ember looked at the cheetah in surprise. The flames were slowly disappearing from his body. Rex pulled his hood back, revealing his orange and black spotted fur. Flame saw that the cheetah only had a couple of small burns, but nothing serious.

"What have I told you about rushing up to the opponent without preparing yourself first, Rex?" The female cheetah said, taking out her bow.

"It wasn't all that bad. After all, my element resistant cloak protected me from most of the damage."

"We'll let me show you how I do things before engaging the enemy." She said, taking out arrows that had strange purple arrowheads. She pulled the string back on her bow and released an arrow. The arrow missed Ember and Flame completely, hitting a tree instead. The cheetah repeated this exact same action, hitting most of the trees that were surrounding the open field. "There that should do it."

Ember and Flame began feeling strange like something was sucking away all their energy. Flame saw that the large cheetah was once again running towards him with the hammer. He again dodged it, but when he tried to release his fire breath nothing came out. He tried once more but again nothing came out. He was too focused on why his attack was not working, that he failed to notice his enemy's incoming attack. Flame was hit hard on his side by the hammer. He looked at the weapon, and saw that it was at least three fourths the body size of its wielder. Flame refused to fall towards the ground; instead he jumped away from the cheetah.

"You're pretty tuff kid, I guess those scales of yours work just like my cloak. But instead of reducing elemental attacks they reduce physical attacks." He said, walking slowly towards the bright red dragon. "Let's see just how resistant they are."

Ember ran towards Flame, seeing that he was in trouble. She was stopped midway by the female cheetah. She kicked Ember in the face, sending her rolling backwards.

"I'm sorry about that, but I can't let my opponent go help her friend like that." She said, readying her bow. "Don't worry this bows are different from the ones I shot out previously. They are to ensure that you die without feeling any pain." Mai said, looking into Ember's teary eyes. She released the arrow, but at the same moment she did Ember flew up towards the sky.

"If I can become a hard target to hit then I can cause her to miss, and then eventually she'll run out of arrows. Then she will have no weapon to use against me." Ember said to herself.

"I don't think so," Mai said, aiming the arrow at Flame. "If you're going to play like that then I'll play like this." She released the arrow sending it flying towards Flame.

Ember flew down towards the ground as fast as she could to stop the arrow, but froze when she heard it pierce something. She looked at Flame, and saw that he was still dodging his opponent's attacks normally. He had no arrow stuck to his body; instead it was stuck on the ground a couple of inches away from him. Ember let out a sigh of relief upon seeing that Flame was not hit by the arrow, but then another horror dawned upon her as she felt a pain in her stomach. She looked down, and saw that she had a distinct red arrow in her stomach.

"Did you actually think that I would interrupt their battle?" She said, smirking underneath her hood. "It was a distraction so that I could hit you with a certain arrow." She said, releasing another one at Ember. She saw the arrow, and immediately began flying through the air. She hoped that the arrow would miss like last time. Ember looked back to see where it was, and was surprised that the arrow was following her through the air. She could not shake the arrow no matter how many maneuvers she did in the air. It was determined to strike her.

Flame kept dodging his opponent's attacks. It had become the only thing that he could do. If he even attempted to strike back he would get hit with the hammer. If he could somehow make his opponent lose his grip on it, he would be able to knock it away from them. The only plan he could develop resulted in him getting hit. He had already felt it once, and did not want to feel it again. It was then that he remembered what the high pitched voice had told him. That a team was going to be needed, and that Spyro would not choose him. It had been wrong because Spyro had chosen him, and that meant that he saw him as someone who could help.

"Alright then, I'll live up to his expectations." Flame said, stiffening up his muscles for the incoming attack. The hammer hit Flame in the same spot as before, making the dragon wince at the pain. He was sure that the attack had broken some ribs, pushing past the pain he clawed at his opponent's paws. Rex let go of the hammer upon having his paws clawed at by Flame. He looked at the dragon, who know had his hammer in his mouth. Flame began hitting the cheetah with his own hammer. The sound of metal hitting against bare flesh could be heard throughout the woods. Flame kept on hitting until the metal hammer shattered in his mouth. The blows were so strong that they had broken it. Flame walked away from the unconscious cheetah.

"Not bad kid," Flame heard him say. "A couple more and you would have had the win, but as you can see it's going to take more than that to finish me off." He stood up and walked towards Flame, "Now how about we continue this fight with no weapons, just with our skills as fighters." Flame could not believe what he was seeing. The cheetah was requesting to continue their duel even though he was obviously badly injured. Rex had bruises all over his body, and it was obvious that he too now had broken ribs. Without warning the cheetah threw a punch at Flame, restarting their battle.


	26. Chapter 26

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
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><p>"They're catching up again." The head cheetah said.<p>

The group had made it out of the forest, and was now crossing the dam. It was the same dam that had once been used to slow down, the Destroyer. It had been repaired along with the planet when Spyro used his power to repair it. The remaining two cheetahs were crossing the bridge that led to the other side of the dam. Rai flew behind them staying low to the ground. The trio was being followed by Spyro's group.

"I'll stay behind and take one of them on." The other cheetah said.

"Alright, Ogin," the leader said, leaving his comrade behind.

The cheetah stood his ground, and waited for one of the dragon to pass on by. Ogin waited patiently for the dragons to swoop on by. When he saw the three of them approaching him, he made his move. He pounced at the dragon that was closest to the ground, making her and himself fall towards the ground.

"Damn it, we just lost Blair." Spyro said, stopping midflight.

"We already told you," Blaze said, grabbing Spyro by his horns. "We're doing this for you. We knew what we were getting into. So keep on flying." The two dragons continued chasing after their target.

* * *

><p>"Get off of me," Blair said, throwing the cheetah off her.<p>

"I won't let you pass; we were given the task to make sure that dragon makes it to the required destination."

"Well Spyro isn't going to let that happen." She said, opening her maw.

Ogin saw her fire breath come towards him. He stood in front of it, and let it engulf him. Blair watched as the cheetah did nothing to avoid her attack. She ended the fire attack, and in amazement saw that the cheetah in front of her was still standing.

"Not bad," he said. "Even with this cloak, I could feel the fire burning my skin."

"So it's enchanted."

"Well, well it looks like you're quiet knowledgeable about this kind of stuff." He said, reaching into his cloak, and pulling out several long needles. "Let's see how you handle this." Ogin threw the needles at Blair.

She dodged three out of the five he threw. The other two pierced her in the chest and tail, looking up she saw that he wasn't done. He kept on throwing more needles at her, Blair kept on dodging them. She knew that at the moment she could not use her fire element, because if she did it would leave her wide open to the projectiles. Just as quickly as the needle storm had begun, it was suddenly over.

"It seems I ran out. Oh well," he said, smiling at her under his hood. Blair had several needles stuck to her body. "Enough found their mark for it to take effect. I wonder if you feel it happening."

Blair had no idea what the cheetah was talking about, but she did feel a bit odd. She felt a huge loss of energy; it was as if all her elemental energy was gone. She looked at the needles stuck to her body, and saw that they had a purple crystal embedded onto their edge. She had heard of how these crystals have the ability to steal a dragon's energy, from Spyro and Cynder. She grabbed onto a needle that was on her forearm. She pulled it out, crushing the purple crystal in the process. As soon as she crushed the crystal, she felt immense pain shoot throughout her body.

"I wouldn't pull those out if I were you," Ogin said. "Those needles are in synch with each other, pulling one out will cause them to release a toxin. It's none lethal instead it increases the sensitivity of your pain receptors. You can pull them out one at a time, but eventually the pain will be too much to handle. Now that the preparations are in order, let's begin." He said, taking out a broadsword.

He swung at Blair, making her dodge his attacks. Blair felt helpless, knowing that the only thing she could do was dodge. If she tried to counter attack there was no doubt that the sword would make contact with her scales. Ogin jumped over the dragon, cutting deeply into her wings in the process. This caused Blair to fold them up, slowing down the flow of blood in that part of her body. She still felt that some amount of blood was trickling down her wings. Ogin had now made it impossible for her to use her wings during the battle.

"I would have thought that a dragon would put up more of a fight than this." He said, swinging his sword at her head.

"You want a fight; I'll give you a fight." She said, catching his sword in her mouth. She began clawing at his face and chest. The cheetah kicked Blair, sending her back. Blair looked at the cheetah, and saw that he was bleeding from several places. Her claws had made tears in the creature's cloak, and by the looks of it had drawn blood from his chest. She then saw the cheetah pull his hood back, revealing his brown and black spotted fur. It also revealed that Blair had cut across the cheetah's left eye with her talon. Red crimson blood was gushing out of the wound.

"You think this means something." The cheetah said, smearing the blood all over his face. The blood in his fur made him look more demented. "Nothing that you do to me will be able to outdo what I am going to do to you."

The two ran across the bridge, staring straight at each other. The cheetah swung his sword horizontally at Blair's body. The dragoness rolled under the blade, tying her tail around the cheetah's leg. She tripped him, sending the blade flying out of his hands. The cheetah got up and faced the dragoness who was now on the offensive. Ogin just smiled back at her like he was getting some sick thrill out of the fight.

"Come on I want to see just how much pain you can deliver onto me." He said, dodging her deadly claws. Ogin was walking backwards across the bridge, avoiding Blair's attacks in the process. He was slowly making it closer to his blade. Blair saw what he was doing, deciding that she could not let him get to it she stopped using her claws. Instead she used her tail again, wrapping it around Ogin's leg. She threw the cheetah off of the bridge. Blair went to the edge, and saw that he was no more. She did not mourn for her opponent, knowing that he was someone who was better off dead. Especially since he acted like a psychopath, something that she believed had long ago lost the right to be given any mercy.

"He was too far gone in his own madness." She said, walking over to his blade. Blair looked at the blade that was at her paws.

"Not done yet," She heard a voice say from underneath the bridge.

Blair jumped back at the sound of the voice. She saw a figure burst out from below the bridge, it was Ogin.

"Not bad, I barely managed to catch on to something." He said, grabbing his blade from the ground. "Next time, will you please make it hurt more?"

Blair jumped at the cheetah, ignoring any instinct that told her otherwise. She dug her claws into the cheetah's chest, ignoring any other feeling that came to her at the moment. She needed to do this for Spyro to ensure that he retrieved what was important to him. She was not helping him because she owed him one, but because he was her friend. He needed her help, and she was happy to assist him. She felt blood rush out of the wounds that she had created in the cheetah's chest. Her opponent was not moving, and for the moment is seemed that she had come out victorious. Then she felt him snickering, she heard him laugh. He was laughing as if this was all just a big joke to him.

"Almost, but not quite," He said, wrapping one of his own paws around Blair's. "I want it to burn more. I want it to be slow and full of whatever raw emotion you can summon. Kind of like the wound that I made across your chest."

Blair had not noticed, but Ogin had cut her chest with his sword before she had dug into him with her claws. The wound went from top right to bottom left, it was pouring out blood by the second. It was then that she felt Ogin detach from her. She was so focused on the wound across her chest that she failed to dodge the sword once again, it cut across her hind legs. Blair fell to the ground; she began using only her front legs as support. She saw Ogin's blade pointing straight at her.

"Don't worry, you managed to stop me. With this much damage, I'll die from blood lust, which is a very boring death if you ask me. But your death on the other hand will be very enjoyable." He said, swinging his sword at her.


	27. Chapter 27

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
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><p>The last remaining cheetah escorted Rai across the barren land. They had made it out of the life filled areas and into a lifeless field. The cheetah could see that the dragons were once again catching up to them. He would have to do something if he was going to give Rai any chance of making it to the desired location.<p>

"Listen up," he said, running along the barren field. "By now you've noticed that this area is lifeless. Well there is a reason for that. You see we are approaching the Burned Lands, the site where the destroyer almost brought upon the end of this world. It is also rumored that under those lands, Malefor resides imprisoned by the Ancestors for all eternity."

"So is that the secret location."

"No, it is beyond that place. Our client will be waiting for you once you pass that part." He said, turning around to face the incoming dragons.

"Spyro you go on ahead, I'll deal with this one." Blaze said, flying down towards the cheetah.

"Be careful Blaze." Spyro said, continuing onward.

"Sacrificing yourself, to help out your companion how very noble of you," the cheetah said. "But I'm afraid that you are about to realize that it was also very foolish."

"We'll see about that." He said, opening his maw, and releasing a medium sized fire ball.

The cheetah leapt over it, and took out his dagger midair. He landed in front of the dragon, and began swinging for the dragon's stomach. Blaze sidestepped the dagger, rolling behind the cheetah. He blew fire into his fist, swinging it at the cheetah's chest. The cheetah ducked under it, swinging his blade at the dragon's chest in the process. Blaze used his talons to deflect the blade.

"Good, but did you really think that I only had one." He said, taking out another dagger, and then stabbing into Blaze's rib cage. "No more element attacks for you." The cheetah twisted his dagger, breaking off a piece of it. He took his dagger out of Blaze, leaving a small piece in him.

"What did you do," he said, feeling his energy drain from him.

"The dagger is made of purple crystals; it is an excellent weapon to use against dragons. Now you will have to fight me with only physical attacks. It is pointless to…"

He was cut off mid-sentence by Blaze, who was swinging his sharp claws at him.

"I like a challenge." He said, aiming for the cheetah's throat.

The cheetah used the dagger in his right paw to deflect the incoming attack. Blaze continued his onslaught, pushing the cheetah backwards. The cheetah kept deflecting all of the dragon's claw swipes with his two daggers. Small sparks were bouncing off from every collision the two had. The two kept on matching their strength against each other, challenging the other to do better. Blaze took into the sky deciding that he had had enough of it, but to his surprise he saw his opponent jump towards him. He was unaware that cheetahs had the ability to jump great lengths. He swiped at his ascending opponent, but instead of deflecting the attack. The cheetah took hold of the dragon's paw. Blaze was confused by what the cheetah had just done. He tried shaking him off of him, but the cheetah was tightly holding on. It was then that he felt the cheetah move to his back.

"You don't mind if I catch a lift, do you?" He said, digging both of his daggers into the dragon's back.

Blaze clenched his mouth, not wanting to let his opponent know that it hurt. Blaze began slowing down; the added weight of the cheetah was too much for him. Especially since the cheetah was taller than the dragon. He was slowly descending down towards the ground. It was then that he felt the cheetah's daggers pierce his wings. He cringed in pain as he realized that he had been rendered flightless until Ember got the chance to heal him.

"No more, flying for you. We wouldn't want you to try that little stunt again." The cheetah said, removing his daggers from the dragon's wings. He jumped off of Blaze before the dragon impacted the ground. The cheetah landed on the ground, while his opponent crashed into it. "It seems that I am done here; I better go help out Rai."

"Does it look like I'm out yet?" Blaze said, getting back up from the ground.

"Why do you continue to fight? What does Rai mean to you?"

"He doesn't mean anything to me, but to Spyro he basically means everything. That dragon is convinced that Rai's worth bringing back. So if someone like Rai can light a fire so passionate within Spyro. Then that can only mean that for Spyro's sake we need to bring him back."

"What happens if you fail?"

"We won't, Spyro will bring him back. He'll talk him out of whatever you guys threatened him with." Blaze said.

The cheetah began to laugh, confusing Blaze. "Is that what all of you think? You think that we threatened him? All of you could not be further from the truth. Instead of doing that we told him that he would receive something if he came with us. We told him that he would receive power beyond his wildest imaginations. We told him that our client would train him the right way. He would not be restricted like everyone else had done. Our client would finally allow that dragon to not only master his powers, but to fully understand what and who he is."

"Would he really do this just because he wanted to be stronger? Risk all of our lives just for his selfish actions."

"Now do you understand? He did it of his own free will, and I'm willing to bet that he would have sought out this power on his own eventually. I've looked into his eyes. They are the eyes of someone that feels that they no longer have a purpose to live. He is slowly accepting his real self. All it will take is one small push for him to finally accept it again, and realize what it is that he truly wants."

"Do you know what that is?" Blaze asked.

"Our client told us that he believed it was something that he could never acquire while remaining in Warfang. Simply due to the fact, that everyone was hostile towards him."

"He was hostile towards us." Blaze said.

"Perhaps, but did you ever take the chance to truly understand him."

_The only time that I felt something like understanding him was when we fought. I felt something from him_ _that until now I didn't understand, but if felt like he was reaching out to me. Like he wanted to be saved from something, but I ignored him. Instead of letting him in, I ignored him and instead helped those that I was already close to. _Blaze thought to himself.

"Stay focused on the battle, boy." The cheetah said, stabbing both of his daggers into Blaze's chest. "It's a shame that you have to die here."


	28. Chapter 28

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
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><p>Blaze felt the cheetah's daggers pierce into his body. Blood began to spill out of the newly formed wounds.<p>

"No, it's not my time yet." He said, pushing away the cheetah with his paws.

"You're too stubborn to know when it is meaningless to continue." He said, swinging his blades at the dragon again.

"That may be, but you greatly underestimate me." He said, opening his maw, blowing fire all over the cheetah. He rolled out of the fire covered in flames.

"That can't be how did you get your power back?" He asked.

"When you stabbed me again, I made sure it hit close enough to my first wound. That would allow the crystal to slip out." He said, lifting up his hind leg. "Then I broke it, stopping it from absorbing my power."

"You let me stab you intentionally just so you could remove the crystal from your body."

"Yea, now I can go all out."

"Why would you do that?" The cheetah said.

"Maybe, just maybe it's because out of all the dragons in Warfang, Rai has always been the one that I have shared the most similarities with. Spyro told me how he once failed to protect someone that was precious to him. I too know how that feels, the feeling of being worthless and powerless, but unlike him I had my friends to help me through those moments. If it wasn't for them I probably would have ended up the same way. It is because of this reason that I want to help him. I know that I would want someone to help me get through this, and for him it's Spyro. That's why I have to beat you here, so that you don't interfere with them."

"We will see about that." The cheetah said, slashing at Blaze.

Blaze whipped his tail at the cheetah's paws, knocking the blades away from him. He began to claw at the cheetah's face, but he ended up dodging them. Blaze only managed to tear apart his hood, revealing the cheetah's white and black spotted fur. Blaze smiled, knowing that he had gotten the results he wanted from his attacks. The cheetah was confused; he did not know why the dragon thought that it had the upper hand. It then occurred to him that without the hood his face would receive the full power of an elemental attack.

"How did you know?" The cheetah asked, knowing that he had never revealed to Blaze what his cloak was for.

"When you rolled out of my fire breath a few minutes ago, I realized something. Some of the flames that were on you slowly began to disappear. I've seen that sort of stuff before on elemental resisting armor. So I figured that your cloak had to work the same way, now burn." Blaze opened his maw, releasing a small fire ball aimed at the cheetah's head.

The fire ball hit its target, incinerating the cheetah's head. The fire burned wildly engulfing all of his head. It slowly began to burn out, leaving behind a burned disfigured head. Blaze looked at his opponent. The once proud cheetah now had his face burned to a crisp. Blaze began to run towards the direction that Rai and Spyro had gone, but stopped once he felt a strong pain in his chest.

"What the hell is this?" He asked, grabbing onto the wound on the left side of his chest. He looked at the two daggers that were on the ground. "If the shorter one had that purple crystal stuff then what did the longer dagger have." He slowly walked over to both daggers. He saw that the shorter one had a purple tip, and that the larger one had green liquid running off it. "Poison? It had poison in it. I've been poisoned? What a lousy way to go." He said, collapsing on the ground.

* * *

><p>Flame looked over to Ember, she was still conscious even with several arrows in her body. He guessed that her scales must have protected her from any serious damage. He on the other hand was badly injured. Flame had been throwing punches at the cheetah, and yet none of them had hit their mark. Rex had dodged all of his punches, and counterattacked with his own punches and kicks. Flame could barely stand up. Just focusing on the battle was a struggle for the young dragon. He did not know how much longer he would be able to hold on for.<p>

"Just stop it dragon, why do you continue?" Rex said, hitting Flame across the chest. "It's sad once dragons were masters of hand to hand combat, but then all of you started focusing more on elemental combat. In the end dragons completely abandoned it just because one crazy dragon decided to take over this world. He placed emphasis on element attacks, and the rest of you followed."

Ember looked over towards Flame he was still trying his best to defeat his opponent. Even though he was obviously outmatched, he kept on going. She on the other hand could not even pick herself off the ground. She had an arrow in her stomach, and two on her back. Even though she could still fly, she felt that it was pointless. No matter where she went the arrows would follow her. She looked at her opponent; Mai was placing another arrow on her bow.

"It is hopeless to continue dragon." She said, releasing the arrow.

Ember rolled, causing the arrow to miss her head. Instead it pierced her right foreleg.

"No, as long as everyone is fighting with all their might there is still hope." She said.

_I have to hit him at least once._ Flame thought to himself, while getting hit by Rex's punches. _I have to do this for them. I have to do this for myself, so that I can show myself that I am able to get things done. So I can show them that they can count on me. So that I can believe in myself._

Flame ducked under the cheetah's fist, and then began to avoid all of his attacks. Flame was dodging all of them. Out of frustration the cheetah tried punching Flame with both fists at the same time. Flame dodged them, leaving the cheetah wide open. He counterattacked, hitting the cheetah in the nose. The cheetah stood still, giving the appearance that the hit had had no effect on him. Flame on the other hand slowly fell towards the ground.

_I did it, I got one hit in. That's enough for me; I know that I was able to hit him. When in matters I won't fail them. Hopefully she saw how much I put into that._ He said, passing out on the ground from his injuries.

"We'll he managed to injure me." Rex said, feeling the blood drip from his nose. "For that I'll make his death as quick and painless as I can." He said, extending his claws.

"No, not yet Rex," Mai said. "Not until I prove to this dragon, just how hopeless of a situation she is in."

"It's not! What Flame just did proves that you guys aren't invincible. It proves that you can be beaten." She said, standing up.

"Alright, you've forced me to do this. You see I was going to wait until I had killed you myself to spare you from this. But now you are going to see you friend's life end. Kill him Rex."

Rex brought his arm above him, getting ready to swipe at Flame's throat. Ember watched as the cheetah prepared to kill her friend.

"Let's see if you still have hope after this. Do it now Rex." She said, commanding him. Rex did not react. "What the hell Rex? Kill that dragon."

Rex fell to the ground. Mai stared in awe as the cheetah collapsed to the ground. She had no idea what had happened, but from where she was standing, she could see that an arrow had pierced his chest.

"Don't worry, your friend is alright. I would never kill someone of my own race." A voice said, from the shadows.

"Show yourself coward." She said, looking around in desperation.

"I'm up here."

Mai looked up towards a tree branch; standing on it was a yellow and black spotted cheetah.

"Hunter of Avalar," she said, surprised to see the cheetah.

"It took some time for me to get here, but it looks like I made it just in time." He said, landing on the ground.

"Hunter, I'm so glad to see you here, but Spyro said that no one was going to offer us any assistance."

"No one was going to be ordered, I came here of my own choosing." He said, placing an arrow on his bow. "Now I suggest that you give up peacefully."

"I've heard of you, and how you helped the dragons out during the war. Your skills are legendary to think that I get to kill a legend today. Sorry dragon, but you no longer have my attention. I'll use normal arrows that won't follow you." She said, releasing an arrow aimed at Hunter.

Her arrow was deflected by Hunter's own arrow. She kept on releasing arrows and Hunter did the same, matching every single arrow. Hunter began to push her arrows back, Mai was now growing worried. She lost focused, and ended up letting two arrows get by. Both struck her in each knee. She began feeling tired.

"What did you put in these?" She asked, falling towards the ground.

"The tips of each arrow have been dipped in powerful tranquilizer." He said, walking over towards Ember.

"You were as good as they said you were." She said, falling unconscious.

"Alright Ember you need to listen to me very carefully, because I don't know in what state the others are in. It seems that they know how to fight against dragons. They are using purple crystals; I found them attached to arrows that were stuck on trees. I've managed to destroy them so you should be able to use your element again. As soon as you heal yourself, I'm going to need you to heal Flame. After that we are heading out to assist the others."

* * *

><p>"No," Blair shouted, rolling backwards, avoiding the cheetah's sword.<p>

"Damn, so close." He began laughing.

"They are all counting on me, I can't let them down." She said, pulling a needle out of her body and crushing the purple crystal. "Flame and Ember, dragons who can't fight that well decided to come on this journey. They were the first ones to get left behind so that we could continue fighting. They might not have a lot power, but they have a lot of spirit." She said, taking two more out and breaking them. "I'm sure that Blaze has done the same, so that Spyro can continue forward. I can't let someone like you beat me; I have to give everything that I can into this fight."

Blair began taking every single needle that was in her out, breaking the purple crystals in the process. The pain increased tremendously with each needle removed from her body. Even though it hurt, her passion for her friends was much stronger. She removed the last needle, taking in all the pain that came from it. She yelled into the sky, hoping that it would lessen the pain.

"Ah, music to my ears," Ogin said, smiling.

Once, she was used to the pain, Blair blew fire into her wounds. She knew that the fire would close up the wounds, stopping any more blood from pouring out. This pain was nothing compared to the pain she was still feeling from pulling out the needles.

"Let's see how you like this creep, Fire Element: Spiraling Fire Breath." She opened her maw, releasing fire in a circular motion. It engulfed the cheetah, burning up his flesh. The attack burned it up faster, because the circular motion added more energy into the attack.

"Yes! Yes! More, please more!" Blair heard the cheetah shout.

She stopped her attack not wanting to kill the cheetah. She saw that only a couple parts of his body were burned. The places where she had torn up his cloak and his entire head had been burned. Even though he looked dead, she knew that she had stopped the attack just before she did something that she knew she would regret.

"That attack had the passion and raw energy. It would have made for a beautiful death, but it was lacking something, and you know what that was." He said, sitting up. Blair looked into his boiling eyes. "It was desire. The desire to kill, you couldn't finish me. Now thanks to you. I'll have to do it myself." He took hold of his sword once more clenching it in his paws. "You could have given me a beautiful death, but you took that away from me. For me that is a fate worth than death." He stabbed himself with his sword. "I welcome death's beautiful sweet embrace."

Blair starred at him not understanding what had just happened. She did not know why anyone would want to take their life. The dragoness collapsed on the ground. The fight had taken a toll on her body.

"Blair!" She heard her name being called. She saw three blurry figures approaching her as she passed out.

* * *

><p>"Stop it Rai, you don't have to fly away anymore." Spyro called out to his brother. But Rai kept on flying not even bothering to respond to the dragon. Spyro looked around and saw that he was in the Burned Lands. It was still overflowing with hot lava and burning rocks. He stopped looking at the scenery, and looked back up at Rai. He had come to a stop.<p> 


	29. Chapter 29

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
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><p>Rai saw the river of lava splitting the land below them. He flew up towards a canyon, distancing himself from it. Spyro followed him, hoping that he would finally be able to talk to him. While flying towards the canyon Spyro took a look at the scenery. The Burned Lands were just as he remembered them. Lava was spewing out of the cracks of the Earth, and hot molted rocks would occasionally fall from the sky. It was all because of the large volcano. Even though he had repaired the world from the Destroyer's actions, he was not able to repair this part of it. He believed it was because Malefor had been taken away by the Ancestors at this location. He saw them imprison him again, under the very land he had destroyed beyond repair. He landed on the canyon, facing his brother's back.<p>

"Whatever they said, you don't have to go with them. We can help you."

"Who's we?" The dragon asked, refusing to turn around and face Spyro.

"Your friends, the Guardians, and everyone that cares about you." He said, trying to talk some sense into the dragon. "I didn't come here alone you know. Blaze, Blair, Ember, and Flame all came with me in order to help you. They all did it for you, Rai."

"You really think it was for me," he said, raising his voice. "Are you that blind Spyro? They did it for you; they don't give a damn about me."

"That isn't true they came to get you back. We knew that you had been taken against your own will by these cheetahs." He said, taking a step forward. "When I heard what had happened I wasted no time in going after you. I did it because I didn't want to lose my brother."

"You know I could have kept on flying, but I chose to stop instead. I chose to do this because I wanted to see if you would be able to convince me to stay. Instead you are doing the exact opposite, you are driving me away. You rub in my face how your friends joined without even giving it a second thought. But the thing that pisses me off the most is how you claim to be doing this for me. Let's be honest, you are doing this for Cynder, so you can impress her."

"What are you talking about?" Spyro asked in confusion. "Yes, I know how she feels about the situation, but I did this because I wanted to."

"No, you did this because you love her." He said, surprising Spyro. "You look at her the same way that I do, and when you're not looking, I've seen her look at you the same way. You took her from me Spyro, before you came into the picture I was her companion. I was the only one that she was comfortable with, but of course I couldn't protect her. No, but you could. She found you, she found someone stronger than me. I hate you for that. If you still don't get what I'm saying, I'm telling you that I love her too."

"Well what does this have to do with anything?"

"I wasn't forced to go with the cheetahs. I was bribed into it, because they promised me power." He said, turning his head towards Spyro, and gave him a sly smile.

"You're still going on about that? I thought you were done with it, after you saw what can happen when someone can't control it."

"They said that their client would actually show me how to control it, and besides what's wrong with too much power?" He said, turning around to face Spyro.

"No matter how much power you have it will consume you, that's why I limit myself. Don't you know that power corrupts absolutely?"

"Yes, but with absolute corruption comes absolute power, and I can live with that. Tell you what since you've come all this way I'll give you a chance to bring me back. Let's fight and if you win not only will I come back, but you can have Cynder all to yourself. If I win well let's just say Cynder will be all mine, and we will be attending your funeral together."

"I didn't come here to fight, and especially not over Cynder. I came to bring you back." He said, looking across the field. _And besides I don't want to fulfill that prophecy. If what that old cheetah said was correct, then this is the fight she spoke about. He is my own blood, and we will be fighting for the one that we love. I can't let that come true._

"Fine, don't fight," Rai said, running over towards Spyro. "Easy win for me." He punched Spyro across the face, knocking some sense back into the purple dragon. He kept on assaulting the purple dragon, which refused to fight back. Rai was punching and kicking him in his upper and lower body. Spyro watched as his brother tried desperately to severely damage him. Spyro looked into his brother's eyes and in them, he saw something. It was enough to bring a tear to Spryo's eye. It was quickly sent flying away by one of Rai's punches.

_He's not angry, sadistic, or egotistic. He's just confused, I saw everything. He still has loneliness in him, and it seems that he tried filling it with something. Something that was only temporary, so that he could forget about that feeling He's trying to get rid of whatever he filled it with, but what could it be. I have to help him, and in order for me to do that I have to bring him back. And it looks like I am going to have to beat him in order to do so. _

He caught one of Rai's punches, "I'll bring you back don't you worry about that. On a side note it looks like you've either gotten weaker or I've gotten stronger, because your punches don't hurt as much as they did when we last fought." He said, teasing Rai.

"Good to see that you're finally serious about this." He said, closing his eyes, "Now how about we take this to the next level." He opened them, revealing that his right eye was highlighted a dark purple color and his left was highlighted red. "Show me yours."

Spyro did as what was asked of him. His eyes were not yet at the level of Rai's. His left eye was highlighted red and his right still had the same blue hue to it.

"Still at the first stage well I guess I beat you there."

"Let's see if you beat me in raw power." Spyro said, throwing a punch at Rai.

The grey dragon dodged, and followed up with an uppercut. Spyro sidestepped and whipped his tail across the dragon's face. Rai recovered and threw a punch at Spyro, who was doing the same. The two fists collided, sending out a small shockwave. Rai was being pushed back by Spyro's attack during their one month apart; Spyro's strength had grown greater than his own. Rai jumped into the air, ending their collision. He now knew that when it came to physical strength, Spyro was stronger, but he still had his speed. Something that he was sure he outclassed Spyro in. He got up close to Spyro, surprising the purple dragon. He threw a punch at the dragons face. Spyro had no time to react, and was hit across his face. He saw the grey dragon follow up with more quick succession attacks. They were too fast for Spyro to counter against.

Instead of trying to fight back, Spyro used his wings for defense. It didn't help; he could feel his wings weakening. Instead of continuing on like he currently was, he decided to take the fight up a notch. He jumped backwards, and as soon as he landed he brought his wings in front of him again. This time, however, he brought the coal like earth in front of him as well, catching Rai by surprise. The grey dragon jumped backwards.

"So we're using our elemental attacks now." He said, stepping backward.

"Yea, this is Earth Element: Earth Wing Shield," he said from behind the earth shaped wings.

"Let's just see how strong they are." He said, making his fist blink wildly with lighting. "Lightning Element: Lightning Fist," he said, punching the stone wings. The attack only managed to crack it, but not break it.

"I guess you didn't know that the earth element is the best use for defense. You are going to have to use something stronger if you are going to get through."

"No, I think that I'll just keep on using the same one." He brought his right paw up and transferred the lighting to it. He punched the stone wings with that paw. The stone wall was slowly giving away. He brought his left paw forward, and did the same thing again. He kept on doing it, until the stone wings finally broke, revealing Spyro's normal one. The purple dragon jumped away, not wanting to get hit by Rai's lightning fist.

"Took you long, enough." Spyro said, running towards Rai. "Now let's see how you like this."

He opened up his mouth, blowing fire in front of him. Spyro was using his comet dash attack in order to deal some damage to Rai. He saw that Spyro was approaching him and jumped out of the way. Spyro stopped in place, and used the energy from the fire to propel him through the air. Rai had not time to dodge the incoming attack, so he decided to block. He covered himself with his wings, reducing most of the damage that he would have taken. Spyro on the other hand was not done yet. He grabbed the dragon's tail, launching him into the sky. Rai opened up his wings, and saw that Spyro was in the sky above him. He suddenly felt cold, looking at Spyro he saw that the purple dragon had his mouth open. It suddenly dawned on him that Spyro was preparing an ice attack.

"Ice Element: Ice Needle Storm," He said, stiffening up his wings. The air around Rai froze, forming into multiple ice shaped needles. They were frozen in the sky waiting for Spyro to direct them. Rai prepared himself for the multiple needles that would soon strike him. Spyro began flapping his wings, sending the needles towards Rai. Rai used his talons to break some of the needles, but could not get them all. He was overwhelmed by the amount of needles that Spyro was able to produce. He no longer was able to defend himself the needles began piercing into him. They started pushing him down. The icy light blue needles pushed the dragon towards the ground. The needles traveled through the air forcing Rai towards the ground. Rai impacted the canyon with the storm of needles piercing into his body. As the final needle pierced into his body, they all shattered into tiny ice crystals.

Rai examined his body, checking in what condition his body was after that attack. He saw that only a few needles had actually pierced into him, the rest had missed. The ones that had hit however, had frozen the wounds that they had done. He guessed that Spyro had tried to use the attack as a way to restrain him, but had failed. Rai looked at the purple dragon in the sky, now it was his turn to have some fun. He flew into the sky, and saw that Spyro was flying down towards him. Spyro was falling right into his trap. They both looked into each other's eyes. Just as the two were about to make contact with each other, Rai kicked Spyro back into the sky.

"Let's see if you can get back up from this." He said, following Spyro. Rai began to deal several blows to Spyro as they descended back towards the ground. "Dragon's End," he called out, delivering one final hit to Spyro as the purple dragon hit the ground. He looked across at the purple dragon and saw that he was not moving. He began walking away, leaving the dragon to his death. He then felt something tug on his tail, turning around he saw that it was Spyro. Something was different about him though, it was his eyes both were highlighted red now.

"How are you unharmed from that attack?" Rai said, noticing that the injuries the purple dragon had suffered from his previous attacks were gone.

"Remember these eyes have the ability to cast illusions. I trapped you in one when we looked into each other's eyes." He said, throwing Rai over the canyon. "And not only that, but it seems that by using that ability my eyes upgraded to the next level. Now I can copy attacks too." He followed Rai down towards the burning rocky field. The two landed on the field, and immediately restarted their fight.

"That's it I'm going to show just how much of a difference there still is between us." Rai said, opening up his maw and sending out a lightning bolt. His attack traveled across the field at an incredible speed, but was stopped half way by one of Spyro's attacks. A mixture of lightning an electric sparks dispersed around the field.

"We are equal Rai, and that was proof. Our electrical attacks are equal to each other. My electricity bolt has the same strength as your lightning bolt."

"No you're wrong mine is stronger. If you don't believe me take this." He opened up his maw again, releasing a steady stream of lightning.

Spyro opened up his maw as well, releasing a steady stream of electricity. The white bluish attack and the yellow attack challenged each other. It then appeared that the electric attack was slowly pushing the lightning one back. Rai watched in amazement as his attack was being overpowered by Spyro's. He guessed that Spyro had charged up his attacks as the electricity traveled through his body. That is how his attack had interrupted his earlier attack. Rai on the other hand had not charged his attacks, because unlike electricity lightning needs to be charged at the final stage not the initial like electricity. But to compensate for this lighting is able to be charged up much more. Once an electricity attack is done forming it can no longer be charged, but a lightning attack finishes charging when the user has finished. Rai had chosen not to charge his attack the first time because he wanted to catch Spyro off guard. This time he did it on purpose so that Spyro would fall into his trap.

The electricity current had all but blasted away the lightning current, and was now striking Rai. Rai stood still and waited for the attack to end. Spyro saw that the attack was not doing any damage to Rai and decided to end the attack. "Damn, I thought that by charging up my attack it would have actually done some damage to you, but instead you ended up resisting it like last time."

"No, Spyro, you are wrong it did do something. It provided me with a large amount of energy."

Spyro saw that Rai was overflowing with electricity. The two dragons ran at each other again, Rai was moving much faster than usual due to the added effects of absorbing Spyro's electricity. Spyro saw that his brother had received a large boost in energy, and needed to immobilize him as quickly as he could. Rai punched Spyro in the face, sending the purple dragon up towards the side of the canyon. Rai, landed on top of Spyro pushing him further into the stone wall.

"Are you done yet, because I know I am."

"Why, Rai? Why can't you accept mine or anybody else's friendship?"

"Because, I know that they never considered me a friend." He said, whispering to the dragon. "Now let's end this." Rai brought his paw up, showing his claws to Spyro. He was going to slash the purple dragon's throat.

"No, you're wrong." Spyro said, turning himself and Rai over. Now Spyro was on top. The purple dragon smashed his fist on the coal like wall. It moved, incasing Rai's wings, Spyro pushed himself back, flying in front of Rai. "Listen Rai because this is the last time that I am going to tell you. We all consider you our friend."

"Then, why? Why do I feel so lonely? It's because I failed her Spyro, it's my entire fault. This feeling has always been with me since that day. Maybe even before that, she was the only one that could have saved me from this. When I was around Cynder, I almost felt needed, but in the end it was all false. I was alone from the very beginning, but not you Spyro everyone loves the legendary purple dragon."

"Let me tell you something Rai. I too have lost someone that was very important to me, and for a moment I lost myself, but then she brought me back. I was able to overcome that moment in my life thanks to her. You can either let those things haunt you or with someone else's help you can overcome them. So Rai please let me help you, we can overcome your obstacles together." He said, moving his paw towards Spyro.

"You mean Cynder don't you? She's the one who helped you. Get the hell away from me Spyro." He said, slapping the purple dragon's paw away. "I don't need your help."

"I am truly sorry Rai, you are still confused. You're having a difficult time accepting something, but I don't know what it is. I promise that once I get you back to Warfang, I'll help you." He flew away from Rai. He opened his maw, sending a large fire breath attack towards the grey dragon.

Rai saw the attack approaching, he could not use his wings because they were still in cased in rock. He could do nothing, but wait for the attack to hit him. "No, no this can't be it. I will not be taken back to that damn place. I refuse to lose to you Spyro." He said to himself.

As the flames approached him Rai parted his arms, smashing them against the stone wall. To both his and Spyro's surprise something happened. The flame breath parted each half following the direction that Rai's arms had taken. The fire breath barely missed Rai, landing instead on each side of him. Rai noticed that the attacks had hit the sides of the wall that he had hit with his paws. It took him a moment to realize that he had somehow directed the attack to hit there. And it had melted away the wall, releasing his wings. He wasn't sure how, but he had.

"What the hell am I?" He said, flying away from the canyon.

"I don't know how you did that, but I doubt that you can do it twice." Spyro said, releasing a medium sized fire ball at him.

"Neither do I, and at the moment I don't want to attempt it again." He said, dodging Spyro's attack. "But I would like to see you dodge this." He said, lowering both of his arms, and placing his right paw on top of his left one.

"Alright, I've been waiting for you to use your lightning gauntlet attack." Spyro said, lowering both his hands down, and placing his left paw over his right.

Rai flew towards Spyro, letting his lighting amplified arm drag behind him. Spyro did the same, and let his electrified arm drag behind him as he flew. It did not take Spyro long to realize that something was terribly wrong. No matter how much energy he put into the attack, it would not stabilize. The electricity was slowly slipping away from his arm. It was only covering his hand by now; he realized that electricity dragons could not mimic that type of attack. He saw that he was about to collide with Rai, who was bringing his arm forward. Spyro realized that the attack was impossible to block with just his wings. Even dodging was out of the question, because both dragons were already moving too fast to change their course. Just as Rai's gauntlet made contact with Spyro, he decided to use the small amount of electricity left in his arm to push Rai's attack away. It did not work, Rai pierced into the purple dragon's chest.

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><p><strong>(AN): For those of you wondering what prediction Spyro was talking about. You can find it in chapter 4.**


	30. Chapter 30

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
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><p>"Well, well it looks like I missed." Rai said, holding Spyro up in the air with his right arm, while his left was pierced into the purple dragon's chest.<p>

"What do you mean?" Spyro said, coughing up blood. "It's in me." He said, trying to pull it out with both his paws.

Rai squeezed Spyro's neck a bit tighter. "No, I was aiming for your heart. At the last second you pushed it away, making me hit the right side of your chest. You feel it don't you? The pain from having lighting within you, it must hurt like hell." Rai pulled out his arm, letting the blood spill from Spyro's chest. "I'm done, I won't kill you, but I won't save you either."

He let go of the purple dragon's neck. Spyro slowly fell from the sky, falling towards the river of lava.

"So long Spyro, I hope you live so that I can meet you again in the future. So you can see how much of a savior I'll be. I'll blow away all of your accomplishments."

_I…I failed. I couldn't stop him from leaving. He can't face his problems all on his own. I have to save him, I need to make him understand that there are creatures who care about him. But how am I supposed to do that with this injury. I underestimated his attack, and now I'm paying for it. Whatever it takes I have to save him. _

"_Those were the words I was waiting for." _Spyro heard a voice in his head say. He let his consciousness slip away from him. Spyro opened up his wings just before hitting the river of lava. His scales turned completely black, and began giving off a dark purple glow. The dark purple glow began healing Spyro from all the injuries he had sustained during the fight. His eyes remained the same, staying with the red hue around his iris. A sinister smile formed on the dragon's face.

Spyro appeared in front of Rai, surprising the grey dragon who was about to fly away. Spyro hit Rai in his snout, sending him flying across the sky. Spyro immediately caught up to Rai, and continued pummeling him across the sky. Rai was not sure what was going on. One moment Spyro was fighting for his life, and the next he was beating the crap out of him. He looked at Spyro, the purple dragon was laughing at his actions. To Rai's surprise, Spyro was enjoying it. He then saw that Spyro now had black scales. It became apparent to Rai that Spyro had given himself to convexity. Spyro delivered a kick to Rai's abdomen, sending the grey dragon into a burning mountain.

"So you've stooped so slow as to give yourself to that." Rai said, flying out of the mountain to meet Spyro up above him.

"He didn't give himself, I took over." He said in a distorted voice.

"And who are you?"

"I'm his better half, the half that is not afraid to let loose. But you can also refer to me as Dark Spyro."

"Well Dark Spyro, you have no right to be here. This is not your battle it is between Spyro and me." Rai said, attacking the dragon, who easily kept on dodging every attack.

"It's useless, we are worlds apart." He said, punching Rai in the stomach, halting his attacks. "You can't beat me."

Rai flew backwards, increasing the distance between the two. "Alright then let's see how you like this." He said, opening up his mouth and releasing a convexity blast.

"That's child's play. Let me show you this Convexity Element: Convexity Shield." He said, creating a clear transparent purple shield that covered his whole body.

The blast hit against the shield enveloping it. To Rai's surprise his attack had done nothing to the shield.

"My turn," Dark Spyro said, banishing his shield and opening his mouth. He released a dark purple convexity blast. It traveled across the sky, heading straight towards Rai. Rai saw the attack heading towards him, and managed to dodge the attack at the last second.

"Not bad, you're almost as quick as me." Dark Spyro said, appearing in front of him.

"How did you do that?" Rai asked.

"I'm using electricity to increase the rate at which I move. Spyro doesn't know how to do this, but I do." He said, attacking Rai.

Rai tried dodging his attacks, but he could not move as fast as Dark Spyro. He was being hit repeatedly by the dragon's attack.

"I haven't had this much fun since Gaul." He said throwing the dragon across the sky.

"I'm not giving up; I will not be defeated by you." Rai said, standing up to the dragon. It was then that Rai's left eye changed from a red hue to a dark purple one. His eye technique had finally reached its final stage. Something else began happening to the dragon. On the left side of his body his scales began darkening in random places. The scales were becoming black forming strange marks across the dragon's body. These marks began resembling tribal tattoos. Along with the strange marks, Rai began giving off a dark purple aura.

"So you too have a different side to you. Well let's see if they will be able to match me. To think that both of you would get taken over."

"I don't know where this huge burst of energy came from, but I know one thing is for sure. As of right now I am completely in control no one is fighting my battle for me."

"How can that be? You are obviously drawing upon the power of convexity." Dark Spyro said, getting frustrated.

"No it's more like it is giving itself to me." Rai said, grinning.

"Using convexity corrupts. So how is it that you are unaffected by its corrupting nature? Furthermore, I have never seen that form before. All your scales should be black, but instead half your body has strange markings on it."

"I guess I forgot to mention, I'm incorruptible. Convexity doesn't affect me the same way that it affects other dragons. I've never known why."

"Then you cannot be as strong as me." He said, continuing to attack the dragon.

"I can see, he's moving so slow. So this is the ability that the final stage grants." He said, dodging all of Dark Spyro's attacks.

"Alright if that won't work," Dark Spyro said, flying backward. "Convexity Element: Convexity Flames." He said, releasing purple flames from his mouth. The flames traveled across the sky burning it in the process. He ended his attack, and searched for his enemy. He was not in the fire, looking behind him he saw that his opponent had avoided the attack.

"I want Spyro not you." Rai said, punching the dragon.

"Sorry, but Spyro's a bit out of it at the moment."

"Spyro, what would Cynder say if she saw you like this." He said, attempting to get through to the dragon.

"Who cares about her? She has this power as well, but refuses to use it. At least you're not afraid to use it like her and Spyro. I guess in that respect you truly are the stronger dragon. Spyro refuses to use me…"

"_Stop it; I don't want you using me?" _Spyro said, interrupting his darker self. _"I'm taking back control."_

"What are you talking about you need me. You can't beat him without me." He started screaming in agony as Spyro took back control.

The purple dragon's scales returned to their original purple color. The dark purple aura began fading away from the dragon. Something also began happening to Rai. The strange markings on the left side of his body began fading away along with the dark purple aura. The grey dragon was confused for a second. He did not understand why his transformation was fading, but decided it was for the better because he wanted to fight Spyro on fair terms.

"You're back," Rai said, flying away from the dragon.

"Sorry about that," Spyro said. He now had full control over his body.

"I don't know about you Spyro, but I want to end this, and I'll do it with an attack that you've never seen before Lighting Element: Lightning Body Strike"

"Then let's end this. So we can return to Warfang together."

The dragons began flying towards each other. Spyro blew fire in front of him, creating his Comet Dash attack. Rai kept on picking up speed; lightning was slowly enveloping the dragon's body. It looked as if the dragon had lighting like aura. The two collided halfway; they pushed against each other, trying to strike the other with their attack. The lighting and fire that surrounded their body's collided against each other. The two elements were pushing against each other, trying to overpower the other. The sky was being filled with lighting and fire, making it look like a radiant star. The two dragons looked furiously at each other, putting everything that they had into their final attacks.

Spyro began pushing towards Rai, gaining an edge in their struggle. He looked at Rai, who was giving him a faint smile. It became evident to Spyro that he had won their struggle. His Comet Dash attack collided against Rai. Spyro pushed forward, traveling with the dragon across the sky. As they were traveling Spyro could have sworn that Rai had whispered something to him. Spyro's attack slowly disappeared, leaving behind a badly burned Rai, and an injured Spyro. The two began falling towards the ground. One from the injuries he had sustained, and the other from exhaustion. Just before the two hit the ground Spyro used the last of his energy to grab onto Rai's tail. He opened up his wings softening the impact. Spyro struggled to get up, but once he finally did he looked at Rai who was unconscious. He was still breathing, but his injuries would have to get treated as soon as they got back to Warfang.

"Let's go back home Rai." He said, placing the dragon on his back. The dragons flew off into the sky, leaving the area that they had fought in behind. As they were flying through the sky, Spyro recalled what his brother had whispered to him. He had said thank you. He was not sure why Rai had said that, but Spyro believed it was because he had finally gotten rid of whatever Rai was having difficulties with.

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><p>"Well it looks like Spyro won after all."<p>

Unbeknownst to Rai and Spyro their entire battle had been watched by another dragon. A light green scaled dragon, the same one that had killed Daxaur, had been spying on the dragons from the top of a canyon.

"Spyro went into his convexity form just as expected. The convexity aura that he was giving off during his little transformation was absorbed by the purple crystal underneath this place. Its prisoner now has the blood of a purple dragon and its power. Now we wait until he awakens. The battle was quite interesting, although it did not go the way I expected it to go. The way the grey one spoke, I was sure he would win."

"He lost because he was not ready, and because he was confused. It limited his powers, but I have a feeling that after this he will finally come to an understanding of who he is. He will finally accept himself."

The light green scaled dragon looked across the canyon, and saw that another dragon, wearing a cloak, was standing across from him. Only his paws and wings were visible, but by looking at them he could tell that the dragon had red scales. He also saw the symbol for the fire element tattooed on the dragon's right fore paw.

"What are you doing here." The light green dragon asked.

"Just enjoying the battle," He said, walking away. "And now that it's over, I'm taking my leave, but before I do I must warn you. While he is under my care, you do not lay a finger on him." He said, vanishing.


	31. Chapter 31

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
><strong>

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><p>Spyro slowly woke up; he realized that he was in the infirmary. The last thing the dragon remembered was meeting Hunter, after he had gotten out of the Burned Lands. Hunter had told him that Blaze and Blair had suffered injuries that were beyond Ember's treatment. Blaze had been poisoned, forcing Ember to continuously heal him. Every time she cleansed him of it, the poison would come back. Blair had suffered internal damage from her battle. Most of her major organs had been damaged in some way. Ember could not repair them for her. Ember and Flame had taken Blaze and Blair back to Warfang so that they could receive immediate attention. Spyro had travelled as far as the entrance to Warfang before collapsing due to fatigue.<p>

"How are you doing, Spyro?" Terrador said, walking into the dragon's room.

"Good, but how is everyone else doing? Did Ember and Flame make it back safely with Blair and Blaze?" The dragon asked, worrying about his friends.

"Yes, Ember and Flame have been released from the infirmary, and you yourself are not as injured as the others."

"What happened to them, Terrador?" Spyro said, getting up from his bed, but then sat back down still feeling the effects from his fight.

"Take it easy Spyro; you are in no shape to leave the infirmary yet. Blaze and Blair are both receiving attention from the dragons and cheetahs that know how to heal their injuries. I can assure you that both will make it out alive and without suffering permanent damage."

"What about Rai?"

"He was given the same treatment as you. Any physical wounds that he suffered during the fight are now healed, as well as any permanent scars or burns."

"I told you didn't I Terrador," Spyro said, smiling. "We brought him back."

"Yes, Spyro I am aware that you did, but there is nothing stopping him from trying to leave again. If he does manage to do that, I am afraid that we will have no choice, but to treat him as a criminal." He said, leaving Spyro's room.

_He'll stay I'm sure of it, but if he does leave this time. Should I go after him again? He left this time, because he was being offered something, but if he leaves this time it will truly be because he wants to. Do I have the right to stop him from doing so? _He said, thinking to himself.

"Spyro, you're all right." Cynder said, running into the purple dragon's room. "You made it back; I was so worried about you." She said, hugging the purple dragon.

"Yea, it wasn't easy, but we were able to bring him back Cynder."

"So, it is true, thank you Spyro. At least now I get another chance to explain myself to him." She said, pulling away from the dragon. _I should tell him right now how I truly feel for him. After all he did all this for me._ She thought to herself. She contemplated whether she should or not, eventually she chose not to reveal her feelings, but instead to leave small hints. She got closer to the purple dragon, whispering, "Thank you," before giving him a kiss on the cheek. It made the purple dragon blush.

The sun had now vanished, and the moon had taken its place. Everyone in the temple was either asleep or resting from the day's activities. Except for one dragon that was walking along the tiled floor, taking off the bandages wrapped around his body. He stopped upon reaching a certain room. The dragon silently opened the door, revealing the room of a certain violet dragoness. He stepped into the room, stopping in front of the sleeping dragoness.

_I'm sorry Cynder for what I put you through. I was only being selfish, but now I know what I must do. Even though you don't love me I will never stop loving you, but I do want to be happy. That is one of the reasons that I am leaving once again. Because I want you to be happy._ He thought to himself. Rai slowly removed the bracelet that Cynder had given him. He looked at it one last time. It now had several cracks around it, and was covered in silt. He placed it next to her. A small tear escaped the dragon's eye, shattering once it landed on the bracelet. "Good bye, Cynder." He whispered before leaving her room.

Rai stepped out of the temple, and took one last look at it.

"They came after me because I left without a reason, because I was running away from my problems, but after fighting with Spyro I know that I have overcome them. I now accept who I truly am, and I know that because of this I cannot remain here any longer. I was pretending to be someone I wasn't just so that I could be liked by them. In the end I did not like who I was becoming, but now thanks to Spyro I have gotten rid of that version of myself and only the real one remains. Hopefully I will find a place where I no longer feel alone, but instead a place that gives me a sense of belonging and of being needed." He said, flying up into the sky.

"Good bye, Spyro. I hope that we never meet again. I do not want you to see the monster that I will become." Rai said, flying away from Warfang.

He had made it out of the city's limits when he spotted what appeared to be a dragon wearing a cloak. The dragon was in the air a few yards in front of him. Rai approached out of curiosity. As he approached he saw that the dragon seemed to have red scales, judging from his paws. Rai also saw a distinct marking on the dragon's right forepaw it looked like the symbol for the fire element.

"I was just on my way to get you," The dragon said. "The mercenaries that I had hired failed so I decided to do the job myself."

"So you're the one that they were working for?" Rai asked.

"Yes, this time I will not force you to come with me. This time I am simply asking."

"Alright I'll go with you, but I would like to know your name." Rai said, flying over to the dragon.

"I used to go by Quantum Flare, but that was a long time ago. Now I go by my real name Slifer, but from here on in you can just refer to me as your teacher." He said flying away with Rai next to him.

"So what will you teach me first?" Rai asked.

"First is an explanation of what type of dragon you truly are, Rai. You are not just a lightning dragon."


	32. Chapter 32

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story._  
><em>**

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><p><em>One week later<em>

A group of dragons walked through the city of Warfang. The four of them had just entered the city. They were doing their best to not draw attention to themselves. One of the dragons had green scales with a brown underbelly. His wings were solid green, with a light green membrane. He had two horns coming out his head vertically on each side. He had a light green left eye and a light brown right eye. The tip of his tail was blunt. The dragoness next to him had light brown scales and a forest green underbelly. Her wings were light brown with a dark brown membrane. She had green eyes and the tip of her tail was pointed. Lastly she had two horns that stuck out from her head. The dragoness next to her had cyan scales with a blue underbelly. Her wings and wing membrane had a cyan color. Her eyes were dark blue and she had a sickle like tail. Her two horns went to the back of her head. The last dragon had light blue scales with a sky blue underbelly. His wings were light blue, with a sky blue membrane. He had a dark red left eye and a dark blue right eye. The dragon had two horns on his head, and the tip of his tail was blunt.

"So, who are we looking for again?" The light blue dragon asked

"One of Malefor's ex pawns." The green dragon replied.

"Rumor has it that she's usually seen around the purple dragon. Supposedly he has taken a great liking to her ever since he rescued her from Malefor. We must eliminate anyone who helped him during the war. She was part of his elite group of dragons." The light brown dragon said.

"While we fought against each other for survival they were given special privileges, because Malefor saw something in them that he didn't in us. They betrayed their own race so they should pay." The cyan scaled dragoness said.

"At least you guys were allowed out of your cages. He took the most dangerous and resilient of us to a secluded area. We were only allowed out of our cages to fight once Malefor thought that it was our time to die. Not until he was defeated by the purple dragon did I once again feel free." The light blue dragon said.

"Wait you never told me that they made you fight as well, Sypher." The green scaled dragon said.

"They made us fight only once a year after our sixth birthday. I fought in seven battles and came out victorious in six, but one fight was different. I didn't lose nor did I win, but because it was a draw we were both allowed to live."

"Alright, once we locate her, I don't want anyone to use their element. Take her out as quickly as possible."

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><p>Unknown to the four dragons Cynder was not in the city at the moment. She and Spyro had been given a task by Terrador. The two were currently in the Valley of Avalar they were asked by Terrador to deliver a message to Hunter. They were currently on their way back. Instead of flying the two had decided to walk back in order to enjoy the scenery.<p>

"It's been a long time since we were here, right Spyro?" Cynder said, trying to get the dragons attention.

"Yea, and at least this time we are here under better circumstances. We don't have to worry about Malefor or anything. We can just enjoy ourselves." He said, trying to enjoy his private time with Cynder.

"As much as I enjoyed demonstrating which one of us was the better fighter the last time we were here, I'd rather have it like it is now." She said, getting closer to the purple dragon. "Just the two of us."

"Yea, maybe from here on in we can finally have a peaceful life. We will never have to deal with anything dangerous ever again." He said, looking at her paws. She once again wore a bracelet on her right forepaw.

"Spyro, we need to look forward to our future. There is no telling what it will bring. Forget about what has happened in the past and just focus on the now." She said, noticing that he was a bit upset.

"If we are talking about the future than there in no one else, but you that I want in it." He said, nuzzling the dragoness.

"What do you mean by only me?" She asked, hoping the he would respond the way that she wanted.

"I guess now is as good as a time to tell you than any other." He said, looking into her emerald eyes. "You stayed with me through this entire week not leaving my side once it was as if we were tied up again by Malefor's magic. But instead of that it was the strong bond that we have formed. We both helped each other through our little depression by reminding each other that we were still here for each other." He noticed that Cynder was blushing, and he guessed that he was as well. "Cynder I…"

"You have no idea how difficult it was finding you Terror of the Skies." The green scaled dragon said, hovering above the ground below him. "If it wasn't for Ares here we never would have found you." He said, pointing to the light brown dragoness.

"It looks like we were interrupting the two lovebirds, Gen." The Cyan dragoness said.

"Glacia, Ares now." He said, directing the two dragonesses.

The two tackled Cynder away from Spyro. They had the tips of their tails against Cynder's neck, showing their bladed tails against her dark violet scales. The two were holding the violet dragon down, keeping her from moving. Spyro ran over towards her, attempting to rescue her from the two dragonesses. He had let his guard down, and as a result was tackled to the ground by Sypher. The light blue dragon got onto Spyro's back.

"Sorry purple one, but you cannot interfere." He said, placing his sharp claws against Spyro's neck. "Don't worry if you cooperate only one of you will die today."

"Why are you doing this?" Spyro asked, trying to get the light blue dragon off of him.

"That dragoness over there was once part of Malefor's army, and because of that she must pay."

"I've changed, I am no longer that dragoness, and I will never be that again." She said, explaining herself to them.

"I know that, but you must still pay." He said, walking closer to her. "With you dead there will only be five more that we will have to hunt down. His elite guard will fall to us."

_Damn it, is this actually happening? If I try to move this dragon will just cut my throat, but if I don't do anything then Cynder will die._

"It's alright Spyro. They only want me, and if it means that you will get to live then I'll let them take my life."

"How noble of you Terror of the Skies, it almost makes me wish that I didn't have to do this, but we must take your life. Do it now." He said, giving the orders to Glacia and Ares.

"No, Cynder!" Spyro yelled out, trying desperately to escape the dragon's grasp. "If only Rai was still with us then he could help." He said, under his breath.

"What did you just say?" Sypher asked him.

Glacia and Ares began to swing their tails at Cynder's neck, but before they could hit their target the two dragonesses were pulled off of Cynder. The two tried to get back up, but realized that they were stuck to the ground. It was then that they realized that the earth itself had taken them off the dragoness. Sypher saw this and got off Spyro, he began making his way towards his comrades, but his limbs became incased in stone.

"What the hell is going on?" Gen asked.

"We were on our way to Warfang. Rumor has it that it is the most heavily dragon populated dragon city, but on our way to it we came across you guys, ambushing two dragons. Must be pretty easy considering you out number them. I wonder how you will fair when the odds are the same." A green scaled dragon said, stepping closer to the battlefield. He was followed by another green scaled dragon.

"Who are you guys?" Gen asked

"We're orphans, who are looking for a place to call home." The smaller of the two said.

"I suggest that the four of you leave, unless you want your teammates to be crushed to death." The larger dragon said.

"Fine we will leave." He said, knowing that they were outmatched. "Now let them go free."

"Hold on before we go I want to ask the purple dragon something." Sypher said, shaking the stone off him. "Whose name did you mention right before she was about to die?"

"Do you mean Rai?" Spyro responded, surprised that the dragon had heard him.

"Yes, you know him?"

"Yea, he's my brother." Spyro responded, wondering how the dragon knew his brother.

"Where is he?"

"He left," Spyro said silently.

"Do you know where he went?" Sypher asked.

"No, and if I did I would not tell you guys. What do you want with him anyways?"

Sypher ignored Spyro, walking over to his teammates Spyro saw the dragon whisper something to Gen. The green scaled dragon just nodded. Before Spyro had a chance to ask them anything they took flight. The dragons flew off, disappearing just as fast as they had appeared.

"Are you guys all right?" The larger green dragon asked.

"Yes, thanks for your help." Spyro said. Spyro saw that the dragon had green scales and a light green underbelly. His wing and wing membrane were green. He had light green eyes, and his tail was shaped like a flail. He had a horn coming out each side of his head, and a third that came out the middle of head, going all the way to the back of his head. Spyro saw that even though they were the same age and size, the earth dragon was more muscular than him. He guessed it had to be because he was an earth dragon.

"My name is Brox, and this dragon next to me is my younger brother Greg."

"Hello," he responded shyly. The dragon was the same age as his older brother. He had dark green scales and a green underbelly. The outside of his wings were dark green while the membrane was a light shade of green. He had dark green eyes, and the tip of his tail was blunt. He had two horns that slicked towards the back of his neck. He was less muscular that Spyro, preferring not to participate in a battle unless it is absolutely necessary.

"You wouldn't happen to know the way to Warfang, would you?" Brox asked.


	33. Chapter 33

**Copyright: I do not own Spyro or anything Spyro related. It is all owned by Sierra Entertainment and Activision. I do own my original characters in the story.  
><strong>

**(A/N): Cobalt Dragon, since you don't have an account on here I have answered your questions at the end of this page.**

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><p>Spyro and Cynder led the two dragons back to Warfang. Once in the city the two siblings left the dragons, going their separate ways. Now Spyro was once again alone with Cynder.<p>

"Cynder you didn't have to do that for me." He said.

"Do what?" She said, acting like she did not know what he was talking about.

"You know what I mean. Don't sacrifice yourself for me, because without you, I would no longer have a reason to live." He responded.

"Well that's the same reason that I was willing to sacrifice myself for you. Because you mean more to me than anything else in this world." She told him.

"Well it looks like both of us don't want to feel the pain of losing someone again."

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><p><em>One Week Ago<em>

"Why do you suppose he left this time Spyro?" Cynder said, staring at the bracelet that she once again wore on her right front paw.

"I can't say for sure why he did, but maybe there was just too much pain in his heart. Maybe, just maybe he felt that after the stunt he pulled that no one would accept him again." He said, sitting down next to Cynder.

"I know he wasn't close to the others, but he was close to us. He might have felt like no one else liked him, but he must have at least known that we would have forgiven him. He should have at least told the two of us what he was planning on doing." Cynder said, placing her head on Spyro's shoulder.

"I don't know why he didn't bother to tell us. It could have been that he just wanted to spare us of the pain that we are feeling right now. You know I actually thought that he was going to stay. I haven't told anybody this yet, but during the last seconds of our fight he thanked me."

"He thanked you?" Cynder questioned.

"Yea, at first I thought it was because I had saved him from whoever had hired those mercenary cheetahs. But now that I think about it, I don't believe that was the reason."

"So what do you believe is the reason?"

"I probably caused him to have an epiphany about himself. Maybe now he has finally seen who he truly is."

"Do you believe we will ever see him again?"

"I hope we do so that we can see how much of a better dragon he has become." Spyro said, smiling.

"I hope that is the road he chooses to take." Cynder said, giving him a faint smile.

"Don't worry it will all work out in the end. Besides for the moment we have each other, and that is all that I could ever want." He said, wrapping his wing around Cynder.

* * *

><p><em>Present Day<em>

"Cynder," He said, pushing his forehead against hers. "I love…"

"Spyro, Terrador wants to see you." Flame said, flying down towards the two dragons. He had interrupted the special moment that the two dragons were having. "And he said that it's urgent."

_Why is it that every time I am about to reveal my feelings to her. Someone just so happens to interrupt us._ Spyro thought to himself."I'm sorry Cynder, but I have to go." He said, separating himself from the dragoness.

"Wait Spyro, you didn't finish your last sentence. What were you about to tell me?" She said, hoping that he would continue.

"I'm sorry Cynder I'll tell you later." He said, flying off. He knew that the moment was over, but that something did come out of it. Now he knew that she felt the same way about him as he did about her.

_I wonder Spyro if later will ever come. You keep on saying that, but it never happens. I'm starting to wonder if I am less important than your duties._

"You wanted to see me Terrador?" Spyro said, entering the room. He saw that it was not just Terrador waiting for him, but Cyril and Volteer were there as well. They had returned from their task.

"Yes, Cyril and Volteer have some important information for you Spyro."

"As you know young dragon, the two of us were gone quite some time." Cyril said. "We were asked by Terrador to locate the Chronicler."

"You guys met with the Chronicler?"

"Yes," Volteer responded. "He told us that he wishes to meet with you. He wants you to complete the training that you started three years ago. He says that he himself will train you for the master class, and will take you even above that. The Chronicler wants you to master all of your elements."

"When will I go?"

"Right now," Terrador said, surprising the young dragon. "He told these two that the world will once again be in danger. As of right now you will not be able to handle what lies ahead."

"What kind of danger?" Spyro asked.

"I'm sure that you are now aware that there are creatures who want you dead for defeating Malefor. Rai was the first of many that might want to end your life because of what you did. Either because they once worked for Malefor and now want revenge, or because they see you as a threat. They won't just harm you, but those close to you as well." He said.

"What if I don't want to go? I've already saved the world once, and done everything that you have asked of me. Can't I have some time to myself so that I can enjoy life with the ones I care about the most?" Spyro asked, growing upset about fulfilling his role as the purple dragon.

"Young dragon, I am ashamed of you for retaliating at us like that. Do you want darkness to once again enter this world, and take from you what you value most?" Terrador said, walking up towards Spyro. "We told you a long time ago that as the purple dragon many things would be asked of you. You must fulfill all of the tasks that we ask of you. We expect no less of the legendary purple dragon." Terrador said, glaring at Spyro.

"If I do go with the Chronicler how long am I going to be staying with him, and what will happen to Cynder?"

"How long is up to the Chronicler, but as for Cynder we will look after her. We will also train her, and help her reach the class of master. Now young dragon you must depart. We will allow you to say your farewells."

Spyro could not believe what he had just been told. It had all happened so fast, he was now going to leave his friends because if he did not they would be in danger. As much as he hated to admit it the Guardians were right. It was his responsibility as the purple dragon to do what was asked of him. As much as he hated putting the tasks that the Guardians had him over his friends, he had no choice. The first dragon that he saw was Ember. He landed next to her.

"Hi, Spyro," She said, greeting the purple dragon.

"Ember, I just wanted to say that you have always been a great friend to me. You always looked on the bright side of things, and because of that you made me see that there is always something better at the end. I have to leave, and I won't be able to see any of you for a long time. So I just wanted to say thanks for everything." He said, hugging the pink dragoness.

"You're welcome Spyro," She said, hugging him back. "I hope you come back soon."

"So do I," he said. He let go of the dragon and took flight once more. This time he spotted Blaze and Blair, they were walking towards the training grounds. He landed in front of them.

"What's up Spyro," Blair said.

"I just wanted to thank you guys for everything. Thank you, Blair for always looking out for everyone when I couldn't. Blaze, I know we got off to a rocky start, but in the end you became one of my closest friends. You even helped me on something that you had every reason to refuse. Thank you both for everything."

"You're welcome, but why are you telling us this?" Blaze questioned.

"I'm leaving Warfang for some time, and I don't know when I'll be back."

"Well Blaze and I hope that you'll be back as soon as possible."

Spyro flew off once again in search of another dragon. He came across Flame, flying down he landed next to him.

"Hey Spyro, so what did Terrador want?" He asked.

"He said that I have to leave to go train for some time. So I came looking for you to tell you goodbye and thanks. Thanks for everything that you've done. You were always able to bring a smile to our group, but you are also the most reliable dragon that I have ever met."

"Thanks Spyro, I hope that you come back as soon as possible." He said.

Spyro flew off in search of one last dragon. He found her walking by herself along the dragon temple's entrance.

"Hey Cynder," He said, landing next to her.

"Spyro what's wrong?" She asked, hearing the sadness in his voice.

"I have to leave for some time, and you can't come with me. But please believe that I am doing this for you."

"What? Isn't there something that you can do? I mean you can refuse to do this, right?"

"I can, but if I did then I won't be prepared for the next threat that we have to face. As the purple dragon it would all be my fault for not being ready for this threat."

"It's alright Spyro; I'm not angry or sad that you are leaving. Can you just please finally tell me what you've been meaning to tell me all this time?" She said, hoping that he will finally do it.

Spyro looked into her emerald eyes. They were filled with hope, expecting to hear those three words. He knew what she wanted him to say, and he wanted to tell her those words almost as much as she wanted to hear them.

"Cynder, I know what you're expecting me to say, and believe me there is nothing else that I am burning to tell you." He said with tears in his eyes. "But I just can't tell you. At least not at the moment. Not with these circumstances. You are too good for me Cynder, you deserve better." He saw that she was now holding back tears. "If you wait for me just a bit longer then when I come back I'll tell you those three words that you want to hear, but at the moment I can't. All I'm asking is that you wait for me."

"I'm sorry Spyro, but I have already waited enough. I won't promise anything. I will try to wait for you, but if I meet someone else then I'm sorry…I'm sorry because I can't help who my heart falls for."

Spyro reached in and kissed her on the lips, calming her down.

"I understand, I just hope that you won't meet anybody by the time I come back. When I do we can spend the rest of our lives together. Good bye, Cynder." He said, taking flight.

Cynder watched the love of her life fly away, leaving her behind.

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><p>"I hope that you are right about this Rai, for your sake Sypher." Gen said.<p>

"Don't threaten me Gen; we both know which one of us is stronger. I'm only working together with you so that I can achieve what I want." Sypher said, responding to him.

"And you believe that this Rai will help both of us or just yourself?"

"Rai will help me, because I believe that we are both after the same thing. Once we find him I'll know for sure."

The four dragons continued on flying through the sky, searching for the grey dragon.

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><p>In a separate dimension, different from the one that the purple dragon resides in, eight dragons were gathering around a vision pool. Each dragon had one of the original eight elements.<p>

"It seems that Spyro has gone to train with the Chronicler." One of them said.

"And his brother is currently training with Slifer." Another said.

"Slifer is above us in the order. We cannot touch those that are above us, but once Rai separates himself from Slifer we will be able to judge him."

"All the pieces are moving into place. Now we just wait for Malefor's resurrection, once he is revived we will be able to make our move."

"We have been given the task to rid this world of those that have tarnished it. They will all be judged by us because we are the Judges."

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><p>In a barren wasteland nothing remained alive, and only a single city remained. The city was desolate and heavily damaged. Rain was pouring down on the city as its only two inhabitants fought against each other. One was a grey dragon and the other wore a cloak.<p>

"Will I get to see him soon?" The grey dragon asked.

"Yes, once your body and mind are ready. You need both to be at a certain level before you can enter that trance. Then and only then will you be able to speak to the celestial dragon that came before you. He will tell you everything that there is to know about being a celestial dragon." The cloaked dragon responded.

"What else will you teach me?"

"I will teach you about the Judges, and how to defend yourself against them." He said, smiling under his hood.

* * *

><p>Spyro had made it to White Isle, and was now traveling through the Celestial Caves. It only took the dragon several more steps before arriving at his destination. He made his way into the Chronicler's home, walking around the area.<p>

"Hello," he said, entering a room.

"Welcome young dragon it has been such a long time since we've last met."

Spyro heard the voice and instantly recognized it. Even though it was not the voice of the Chronicler he remembered, it belonged to a dragon that he had grown much attached to. Hearing his voice brought a smile to the dragon's face. He looked across the room, and saw the dragon that he had long since believed to be dead.

"Ignitus!" He yelled out in joy.

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><p>End Of Part I<p>

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><p><strong>(AN): Well that was the final chapter of this story, and thus the ending to the first part of the series. I hope that you guys enjoyed reading it. If you are wondering about a sequel. I will like to let you know that I am planning one. I will probably post the sequel in a time span of one or two months. So be on the lookout for it.**

**If you have any questions revolving the story, or about something that you feel I didn't explain properly. Just PM me and I'll do my best to answer your questions.**

**I would now like to take a moment to thank all of my reviewers: spartan1320, Rogue147, Spyrofan35, Nickel531, The 5th Dragon Guardian, Xerneas, Wings of the Storm, Darkness Oversoul, Shining Darkness Dragon, Dill Dragon, Matthais 123, Rhysmottace, Benmor, Necron Dragon Lord of D.A., soren, .Chaos97, wolfartist117, Nova Pyro, Darklighteryphon, and Cobalt Dragon.  
><strong>

**Thanks to all of you who gave this story a chance and read it.  
><strong>

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><p><strong>I'll answer your questions here Cobalt Dragon.<strong>

**1. Is Spyro going to try, and save Rai from himself?**

**As you can see Spyro has a lot going on in his life at the moment. Currently I would say that Spyro trusts Rai to do the right thing.**

**2. How did Spyro and Cynder react to Rai leaving again, and if I could show the scene?**

**I chose to add the flash back towards the beginning of the chapter because I figured that it might have been something that not just you, but everyone else would have want to read.**

**3. How is Rai currently doing?**

**Since Rai showed up in this chapter I will let you decide for yourself on how he is doing.**


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